By
Benjamin Mensah, GNA
Accra, Feb 27, GNA –
Second Deputy Majority Chief Whip Moses Anim on Thursday thanked Minority
Leader Haruna Iddrisu for participating in welcoming President Nana Akufo-Addo
into the parliamentary chamber to deliver the 2020 State of the Nation Address
(SONA).
He however asked the
Minority Leader to apologise to Ghanaians for a walkout staged by the Minority
National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus, just as the Ghana National Anthem,
which was then playing, and the President was about to begin his address.
President
Akufo-Addo, on Thursday, February 20, 2020 delivered through Parliament the
fourth and the last SONA of his first term before the nation would go for
general election next December.
The State of the
Nation is an annual address to Parliament given by the President of the
Republic of Ghana covering economic, social, and financial state of the country
according to Article 67 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana.
Article 67 states:
“The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before
dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the
nation.”
After staging the
walkout, the Minority later explained its action, citing undue delay by the
Government of Ghana in the release of their share of the Common Fund for the
third quarter of 2019’ what it called the “fascist and authoritarian tendencies
that have conspired to threaten the health of the country’s democracy,” and the
decision of the Government to compile a new Voters’ Register against public outcry,
as some the reasons for the walkout.
The Minority
thereafter sat in silence at the plenary, without participating in the debate,
with only members from the Majority Side of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
making contributions to the debate.
The abstention of
the Minority from contributing to the debate on the SONA, led Mr Emmanuel
Armah-Kofi Buah, for Minister of Energy; and MP for Ellembele, to organise an
interview for which most accredited journalists to the House abandoned coverage
of proceedings of the debate on the SONA.
The action of the
journalists irked the Majority Leader, and the Speaker who cautioned the
journalists that they were his guests, threatening to have their accreditation
withdrawn if the practice should continue.
The caution was met
with a backlash from the public, following which a truce is being worked on by
the House and the press.
Mr Anim, who
identified himself as the Chairman of the Planning Committee of the 2020 SONA
thanked all: the Speakership, the Majority and the Minority Leader, the MPs,
the Clerks and all who made the delivery of the 2020 SONA a success.
GNA