Akufo-Addo’s 2021 SONA rehash of campaign promises - Ahmed Ibrahim

Mr Ibrahim Ahmed, Deputy Minority Whip, has described President’s 2021 State of the Nation Address (SONA) as empty and a rehash of the 2020 campaign promises.

According to him, the President also failed to state his position on the raging issue of homosexuality and lesbianism in the country.

“Parliament is a big platform where he should have made his position known so far as fighting homosexuality and lesbianism is a concern. The diplomatic community were all here expecting to hear from him…This is what the Catholic Bishops Conference, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Concern Clergy Association among others would have been satisfied with,” Mr Ibrahim said

Mr Ibrahim made the observation in reaction to President Akufo-Addo’s address to Parliament in his first State of the Nation Address of his second term in office.

Mr Ibrahim also maintained that despite the closure of the LGBTQI+ office in Accra, it does mean that the cessation of the act, and that LGBTQI activities were still going on in the country.

Mr Ibrahim also stated that the President should have used the occasion to clarify matters in terms of fighting corruption in the country.

He said the President, in recent times, have been accused of rather fighting independent constitutional bodies, which had been mandated under the 1992 constitution to wage war against corruption.

He cited for example the former Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Domelevo, being asked by the President to proceed on retirement on an allegation that he had exceeded the eligible age to remain in office.

However, Rev John Ntim Fordjour, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin South in his reaction stated that President Akufo-Addo had already declared the government’s position on the LGBTQI+ issue and does not understand why the NDC wanted him to raise the matter again in Parliament.

He lauded the President for his leadership role in keeping the students in school safely despite the increase in COVID-19 cases.

He welcomed the government’s commitment to increase the tertiary education ratio from the current of 18.9 percent to 40 percent in 2030.

Mr Fordjour also noted that Ghana’s economy was gradually recovering from the COVID pandemic and that the Planting for Food and Jobs had made food available to the country.