President Mahama delivers State of the Nation Address Thursday February 25
President John Dramani Mahama will on Thursday February 25, 2016 tell Ghanaians how his administration has managed the affairs of State and perhaps solicit their endorsement to lead the nation in the next four years.
He will appear before the nation through Parliament as he chronicles his administration’s achievements in the last calendar year when he delivers the State of the Nation address to the august house.
His appearance before the House is in fulfilment of a constitutional requirement. Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states; “The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before a dissolution of Parliament, deliver a message on the state of the nation”.
This was announced on the floor of Parliament by the Majority leader Alban Bagbin when he presented the Business Statement for next week.
The address will be before the plenary of 275 legislators, who would be joined in the House by observers including representatives of political parties, members of the Council of State, the Trades Union Congress, the Diplomatic Corps, and traditional rulers, representatives of the religious bodies and a cross section of Ghanaians, in the public gallery.
It is also expected that the local and international media would be fully represented to capture proceedings of the day which would mainly feature the address of the foremost gentleman of the land.
President Mahama will be expected give account of the power crisis, the performance of the various sectors of the economy and international bilateral and multilateral corporations as well as the touchy issue of the transfer of two Yeminis from the Guantanamo bay prison in Cuba to Ghana.
He is also expected to speak on the growth prospects of the country, vis-a-vis the current fiscal discipline going into an election and the revised fiscal projections for this year owing to falling price of crude oil on the international market.
In the business statement, Finance Minister Seth Terpker is billed to apprise the House on Tuesday February 23, 2016, on the operations of savings and loans and micro finance companies operating in the country.
He will also respond to questions on the tonnages of cocoa beans imported into the country between the crop year October 1, 2014 and September 30 2015 by the cocoa processing companies operating in the country.
The Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Dr Kwaku Agyeman Mensah will also on Friday, February 26, 2016, brief the House on the acute water crisis in the country and the interventions being employed to ameliorate the situation.
The Electronic Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Development and Classification of Film Bill, 2016 will be presented to the House next week.
Source: GNA