President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo will deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) next week Wednesday, 30th March 2022, Deputy Majority leader Habib Iddrisu has disclosed.
The address will be delivered in Parliament in accordance with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which mandates the President to present such a message at the beginning of each session of Parliament
The President was scheduled to appear before the House on 3rd March 2022 but that constitutional obligation was postponed indefinitely with conflicting excuses.
The Majority in Parliament has blamed Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin for the delay in the delivery of the 2022 State of the Nation address.
While Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, contended the Speaker and the leadership of Parliament have not been able to communicate and give the President the green light for the presentation because they are not ready, Deputy Majority Whip Habib Iddrisu on the other hand claimed it was postponed because of its closeness to the Independence Day celebrations on 6th March.
According to him, Parliament has to program the President to come and stressed it is not the President who is refusing to come.
“Mr President is ready, it is for our leadership and Mr Speaker to program him. Mr Speaker is unavoidably absent, so, the leadership of the House and the Speaker should program the President to come and give the message on the state of the nation,” he said in Parliament on Friday, March 18, 2022.
The Minority, however, dismissed these assertions and insisted President Akufo-Addo is rather not making himself available to the house for the presentation.
The President, they said, had “no good news” for Ghanaians; hence the delay in making the presentation.
Article 67 of the Constitution mandates the President to present the address to Parliament at the beginning of each session of the lawmaking body and before the dissolution of the house.
The address sets out the government’s key policy objectives and deliverables for the year ahead.
It will give President Akufo-Addo the opportunity to highlight the achievements of his government, challenges faced, and also outline developmental measures for the coming financial year.
Source: Mypublisher24.com