Some residents in Ho and Hohoe in the Volta Region and Kadjebi in the Oti Region have shared divergent views on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s 2024 penultimate State of the Nation (SONA) address being delivered on Tuesday, February 27.
While some wanted redress to specific issues, some are indifferent, and others just think it would not bring any changes to their present circumstances.
The President has a constitutional obligation to perform this exercise according to Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution, which states that the President shall deliver a message on the state of the nation to Parliament at the start of each session and before the dissolution of Parliament.
Some residents of Hohoe, who interacted with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the SONA had not reflected in the governance of the country under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration, others, however, disagreed.
Madam Charity Nartey, a trader, said the economy had improved despite the challenges and that the 2024 address sho
uld reflect what citizens were going through and the measures to espoused must be implemented within the about nine months the Party had.
Mr Samuel A. Azasu, the Hohoe Constituency Director of Communications, NPP, said his expectations were that the message would be of hope and how the President’s tenure was ending on a good note based on his track records.
He said he expected the address to touch on how the President had managed and ‘turn around’ the economy despite challenges such as the ‘Russian-Ukraine’ war.
Mr Azasu said he expected to hear the President speak on the majority of promises that had been achieved in all sectors and that the address would give Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia a clear road to be able to ‘break the 8’.
Mr Prosper Kumi, the Hohoe Constituency Secretary, National Democratic Congress (NDC), said the NPP Government had been very disappointing when it came to leading the country.
He said he did not see anything new the President would say in his address adding that President
Akufo-Addo had not lived up to expectations in past addresses.
Mr Kumi said promises under the government had not been fulfilled and the current state of the economy was a testament.
He said the President should call for a review of most of the government’s flagship programmes and policies including the Free SHS to mitigate the major challenges it was facing.
Meanwhile in Ho, some people anticipate that the President would eliminate the COVID-19 tax since it was burdensome for them given the state of the economy and the fact that the COVID-19 virus was no longer a threat to the country.
Some of the residents also requested that the President did away with the emission tax and eliminate the 15 per cent value-added tax on electricity.
A coconut seller, who gave his name as John, said he expected the President to announce some measures to increase job creation to solve youth unemployment.
The high rate of youth unemployment was negatively impacting the potential of young people and driving some of them to
turn to gaming or betting.
Amina, a porridge seller, stated she anticipated hearing a decrease in the cost of essential commodities like petrol as that affected people’s purchasing power.
In a related development at Kadjebi, some residents say the address would contain nothing as they have not seen any deliverable in the previous ones.
Mr Opoku Mahama, a teacher who is now a chef, said the country had abundant natural and human resources but were either underutilised or mismanaged by politicians.
‘Now if you are not creative and find any additional thing doing, you will die before your time comes,’ he said.
Apart from President Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who governed this country well, no other president had been able to do well, he added.
Mr Emmanuel Klu, the Akan Constituency Director of Elections, NDC, said aside from the Free Senior High School policy that the Government partially implemented, it had not done anything to improve the standards of living of Ghanaians.
Mr Adjei Worlanyo Frank, Communications O
fficer, NPP, Akan Constituency, expects the President to talk about the Agenda 111 Hospital projects, one of the monumental projects it had been implementing, and state the progress made.
He touted the Government’s achievement on the FSHS policy and expected the President to highlight those success stories during the SONA.
The Communications Officer also expected the President to touch on the economic challenges confronting the country and steps being taken to address them.
‘The NPP-led-Government has delivered well and needs to be retained in power come December 7, 2024,’ he added.
Source: Ghana News Agency
