Ghanaians Assess the President\'s Sessional address

As Ghanaians prepare to unwind this weekend, everyone is still talking about the first State of the Nation address given by the new president, John Agyekum Kufuor, on Thursday. They are also assessing his first five weeks in office. There Reaction was mixed to Kufuor\'s maiden speech to Parliament among the public and politicians, ranging from praise to sharp criticism.

The sweeping 50 minute speech touched on broad themes - from the economy to education and AIDS - which some Ghanaians have compared favourably to the longer, more detailed, sessional addresses by the former president, Jerry Rawlings.

Kufuor warned of some tough decisions ahead and told Ghanaians to brace themselves for, among other hardships, a probable rise in the price of petrol, adding to already fevered speculation that a price hike is imminent and inevitable. The legacy we have inherited on the economic front is daunting , said Kufuor.

On the economy, Ghana s new president said he and his government were shocked and sobered by what they had discovered, especially the colossal national debt. Kufuor said this stood at 41.1 trillion cedis ($5.8 billion at the end of December 2000 -- 31.7 trillion ( $4.3) in external debt and 9.4 trillion cedis ($1.5 billion) in domestic debt. (7.1 cedis=1US$).

The president said the institutions that should have acted as watchdogs, or confronted the problems of inefficiency and corruption as they arose, had failed catastrophically. He said the new Minister of Finance will address what measures would be taken in his budget statement.

Kufuor listed a catalogue of ills, from mismanagement, mass unemployment, low wages, high cost of living, a rapidly depreciating and precarious state of the currency to a high dependency on foreign aid. He lamented extensive corruption in public life, as well as declining education and health opportunities and a cowed and demoralized private sector, hopeless and despair as the legacy of the past two decades in Ghana.

But the minority leader of parliament, and opposition MP, Alban Bagbin, described the sessional address as a complete emptiness and a collection of many words meaning nothing . Others complained that it was a speech devoid of vision.

Bagbin complained that the speech was bereft of any policy statement and failed to tell Ghanaians how the new government intends to bring about the positive change that was Kufuor s much repeated campaign slogan. In all the areas, His Excellency the President failed to state a goal or objective of the government for the year , Bagbin told Ghana s state-owned daily newspaper, The Daily Graphic.

Another opposition MP said Kufuor s maiden address to parliament read more like a campaign speech, without setting targets or stating his intentions for the nation.

Kufuor\'s administration came into office on 7 January and has not yet had time to deliver - or not - on the many campaign pledges he made in his bid to become president. His last batch of national and regional ministers was sworn in just a day before Kufuor addressed parliament.

The Ghanaian leader barely strayed from his script and tried not to allow himself to be distracted by either side of the house. The vocal majority New Patriotic Party members of parliament chimed in frequently with supportive here-heres , while the groans from the minority side were peppered with loud heckling when they disagreed with what Kufuor said or proposed.

One such instance was the continuation of the national debate appraising the recent past in Ghana. In his speech, Kufuor repeated his pledge to set up a National Reconciliation Committee, to address the grievances of those who have been wronged and compensate the people whose assets were confiscated illegally.

Kufuor added that those who had committed criminal acts, under the guise of politics since 1992 when Ghana shifted to constitutional rule, would have to face the law.

Opposition members of parliament, and some critical callers to local radio talk shows in Accra, have dismissed the notion of a National Reconciliation Committee, saying this could amount to a national witch hunt, stoking bitter memories, rather than burying the past and Ghana s differences. But Kufuor has insisted that those who had acted with impunity and broken the law would be brought to book .

Another key section of his State of the Nation address was HIV/AIDS, which Kufuor described as the biggest challenge facing the global health sector and Ghana. He said HIV/AIDS was crippling national economies and undermining businesses, with companies losing productivity and spending more on hiring and retraining employees as other workers succumbed to the disease.

Kufuor warned his compatriots that Ghana must face up to the realities and not shy away, because of certain sensibilities, and must speak frankly about sex and relationships within the vulnerable age groups to successfully challenge the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

He said In Ghana, our situation is serious and is threatening to assume epidemic proportions. It is not too late to act, but we must act fast and with resolution . The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Ghana is currently about four percent.