Parliament concludes debate on SONA
Parliament last Monday concluded the two-week debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), with the Minority and the Majority leaders expressing divergent views on the state of the economy.
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The Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, in his submission, said the current government, in spite of enjoying enormous goodwill and borrowing over GH¢925.2 billion and receiving taxes worth GH¢477.9 billion from 2017 to 2023, had failed to transform the economy.
However, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said in spite of the global challenges, the current administration had resolved many teething economic challenges that the previous administration failed to tackle, mentioning the power crisis (dumsor), free second cycle education, landing beach sites, educational infrastructure, among others.
Monumental failure
Beginning the debate, Dr Ato Forson said never in the history of the country had any government enjoyed massive goodwill and huge fiscal space to transform the country than what the current administration had.
However, he said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had gone down in history as the worst performing regime.
“The President failed to mention Ghana’s public debt as a percentage to the GDP at the time he presented his address.”
“This government in seven years has received over GH¢925 and has received taxes worth GH¢477.9 billion from 2017 to 2023.
Aside this, they have borrowed another GH¢447.3 billion.
“Total resource envelope-taxes and borrowing- amounted to GH¢925.2 billion in seven years; if you are to convert this to the prevailing exchange rate, this government in seven years has received $134.3 billion and this is enough to transform our country but they have only given us economic disaster,” he said.
Economic crisis
Responding, Mr Afenyo-Markin referred the Minority Leader to the 2016 SONA delivered to Parliament by former President John Dramani Mahama and cited how Mr Mahama drew the House’s attention to the commencement of liquidation proceedings in respect of DKM Microfinance by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to protect the livelihood of small depositors.
He said the former President said the of lack of effective supervision on the part of the central bank had resulted in many cases in which microfinance companies licensed by the BoG had breached the rules and created supposed pyramid schemes that had eventually crashed down.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the NPP government, coming to meet such crisis, had not only paid the principal but also the interests on investors’ money.
“As the Deputy Finance Minister, you had a big input in what former President came to present here and today the liberties of opposition is making you Dr Forson to mislead Ghanaians that we have not performed,” he said.
He said the NDC government had expressed commitment to build 100 E-blocks but at the time they left office they had done only 29 of such blocks.
He also touched on the NDC government’s failure to construct a single landing beach site as compared to the success stories of the current administration in Axim Dixcove, Elimina, Morea, Winneba, Senya Braku, Gomoa Fete, Teshie and Keta.
