SONA: President within time — Majority Leader
The Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business in Parliamemt, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is within time to deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament.
He said the constitution provided that the President shall at the beginning of each Session of Parliamemt and before dissolution of Parliament deliver to Parliament a message of the State of the Nation.
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"The first meeting is the beginning of the session. So Mr Speaker, we are still within the beginning of the Session and people should avert their minds to this," he stated.
Question and Answer
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was responding to a question by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliamemt (MP) for Ellembele, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, that the Business Statement presented to Parliament by the leader of the House, last Friday, March 11, 2022 was silent on the SONA, a requirement of the constitution.
"Mr Speaker, Article 67, with all due respect, is to be adhered to by the President. If the President wants to do away with the constitutional requirement to a new date he can go to the Supreme Court and change it. But we expect him to follow the spirit of the constitution," Mr Buah stated.
But responding, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu asked the member to relate the question to the appropriate phraseology and the constitution.
"Mr Speaker, he said the President wants to change the date for the SONA and that if the President wants to change the date he should go to the Supreme Court. I don't know what he is talking about. Mr Speaker, the constitution provides that the President shall at the beginning of each session of Parliament deliver to Parliament a message of the State of the Nation," he stated
"We are still within the beginning of the session. So the President will come and he will come within this session in this meeting. This includes the entirety of the first session," Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added.
Recall
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, while presenting the business statement to Parliament on Friday, January 28, 2022, announced that President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo was expected to present the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament on February 24, 2022.
However, a date was yet to be fixed for the President to come to Parliament to give the SONA, which is the duty of the Business Committee of the House to do so and that necessitated Mr Buah to ask the question.
SONA
The State of the Nation Address (SONA), also known as SONA, is an annual address to Parliament given by the President of the Republic covering economic, social and financial state of the country, according to Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution.
Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution provides that “The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the nation.”