General News of Friday, 6 April 2018
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2018-04-06
Most Ghanaians say they didn’t understand what the President said because he used ‘big words’
In the wake of President Akufo-Addo’s address on the controversial Ghana-U.S. Defence Cooperation Deal on Thursday night, Ghanaians have expressed their dissatisfaction with the president’s message stating the “ambiguity” of his statement.
President Akufo-Addo’s statement last night was his first attempt to address the 2018 defence cooperation agreement, which was ratified by a Majority-only Parliament to permit the U.S. Military to use Ghana as a base for staging and deploying forces.
The President, however, categorically stated that Ghana has not offered a military base to the US while insisting that his government will not jeopardize the peace of the country by selling Ghana’s sovereignty to the US as his opponents claim.
He maintained that his government deemed it prudent to continue the co-operation agreement already in existence.
“So, let me state with the clearest affirmation that Ghana has not offered a military base and will not offer a military base to the USA. Indeed the USA has not made any request for such consideration and consisted with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request,” the President said.
Ghanaians, after listening to the address, said the President did more harm than good. A section of the public who spoke to www.ghanaweb.com on Trending Gh said the president failed to explain details of the contract and ended up only confusing them with his “big grammar.”
The minority side of Parliament, did not fail to show discontent towards President Akufo-Addo’s address on the controversial deal which has ignited fear, panic and unrest among citizens over the past weeks.
According to General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the President failed to stick to the issues that have been raised about the deal but rather chose to insult his opponents for criticising it.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, in a tweet said President Akufo-Addo only insulted Ghanaians with his response instead of making sense to the ordinary Ghanaian and just made matters worse by speaking big grammar throughout his address.
“A terribly sad night indeed. This is not how a President talks down to his own people. The intolerant, condescending and insulting response to genuine concerns of Ghanaians from all sections of society is very regrettable,” he tweeted.
Watch what Ghanaians had to say below
Below is the full speech of President Akufo-Addo responding to US-Ghana Military Co-operation agreement.