Majority Leader ask Parliament to sustain national peace

Accra, March 5, GNA - The debate on President John Evans Atta Mills State of the Nation address in Parliament, ended on Friday with the caution to members not to take the peace Ghana is enjoying for granted. Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader, in his concluding statement on the debate on the theme: 93Raising Ghana to the Next Level," said the Presid= ent's sessional address chastised the minority why they found nothing wrong with the 93all die be die" remarks by Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, President= ial aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said Cote d' Ivoire, which was once a peaceful country was no lon= ger stable and Ghana must learn a cue from the phenomenon. The motion for the debate was moved by Mr Emmanuel Kwesi Bandua National Democratic Congress (NDC) member for Biakoye and was seconded by M= r Joe Ghartey NPP member for Essikadu/ Ketan on February 17.

The minority side held the view that the President's speech was divisive and failed to address the needs of the country. On the other hand the majority saw it as peaceful and touched on many issues such as agriculture, health, education, housing, water, employment, youth and sports development, security and public safety, drugs, law and order, foreign policy, governance, energy and women and children. Mr Avoka expressed wonder why the minority was splitting their heads o= n the President describing the economy as inherited from the NPP government a= s "daunting". He said although the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) was on the drawing board for a long time the previous government did not have the political will to implement it.

He stated that since there were no new policies without problems all the challenges currently bedevilling the SSPP would be rectified. On the Electoral Commission, Mr Avoka said the ad hoc committee set up by parliament to investigate the commission was to help the authorities to help shoot the troubles that confronted it during the recent district level elections. Mr Ambrose Dery, Deputy Minority Leader called on the government to inject adequate funds into the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to prove that it was committed to the authority. "Government is not keeping its promise as far as SADA is concerned,= " he said. Mr Albert Kan- Dapaah NPP member for Afigya Sekyere West said the politicisation of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debt was very dangerous to th= e progress of the country.

He said the subsidies that the previous government provided to TOR, which led to an increase of the debt was enjoyed by all Ghanaians. Mr Kan-Dapaah said currently the NDC was also subsidising TOR at a cos= t of 5 million dollars a week, an indication that Ghanaians were the growing the debt. "We should sit as a country to deal with it. We should not allow thi= s to divide us," he said. "Let's put politics aside and work for the development of the nati= on," he said. Mr Mathias Pouzza NDC member for Nadowli East said all politicians mus= t see things in the national interest and not through the partisan lens.