President Akufo-Addo urges next parliament to cooperate

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday urged Members of Parliament to be more accommodating in the next parliament, which has an almost equal strength on both sides.

The President asked the bi-partisan parliament to work with the consequences of the desires of the people.

“The good people of Ghana have spoken and given Parliament an almost equal strength on both sides of the House; we have no choice but to work with the consequences of the desires of the people,” the President said, in a delivery on the State of the Nation Address to the House, on Tuesday, in Accra.

The delivery of the SONA, the last in his first term to the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic, is an annual address to Parliament given by the President of the Republic of Ghana covering economic, social, and financial state of the country according to Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The current parliament, which began on January 7 2017, will dissolve on the night of January 6, 2021, and usher in the next, to be inaugurated in the early hours of January 7, 2021, before which the President-elect would also be sworn-in.

President Akufo-Add noted that the next Parliament would not be the same as the outgoing one because the sitting arrangements, the source and decibel levels of sound from the House, among others would certainly be different.

“The House would have to be more accommodating of each other’s views, and, probably, devise new ways of conducting its affairs,” the President said.

He said he was thankful to the Ghanaian people and to the Almighty that he has been given a clear mandate to govern the country for four more years.

This, he said, would give him the opportunity to complete tasks, consolidate some of the far-reaching measures the NPP Government has introduced; and initiate further changes and adjustments to policies and practices.

“The Constitution demands that we go to the people after four years to ask for a mandate, and we must listen to the voice of the people,” President Akufo-Addo said.

The President said he strongly believe and in all sincerity that the election of 7th December 2020, was fairly conducted.

“I said during the election campaign, and it is my firm and passionate view, that I should only be President in a fairly conducted election, which I believe, in all sincerity, the election of 7th December,” he said.

He added: “Mr. Speaker, the next Parliament is not going to be anything like this one that ends today. I do not suggest that the House might not be as busy, but the sitting arrangements, the source and decibel levels of sound from the House would certainly be different.

“The good people of Ghana have spoken and given Parliament an almost equal strength on both sides of the House; we have no choice but to work with the consequences of the desires of the people.”

The House would have to be more accommodating of each other’s views, and, probably, devise new ways of conducting its affairs.

President Akufo-Addo said he was thankful to the Ghanaian people and to the Almighty that he has been given a clear mandate to govern the country for four more years.

He said the opportunity would enable him to complete tasks, consolidate some of the far-reaching measures we have introduced, and initiate further changes and adjustments to policies and practices.

On the election petition by his opponent in the last election, former President John Mahama, President Akufo-Addo said it was good for the nation that, in the end, he chose the legal path.

There were pockets of demonstrations, calling on the EC to annul the results by some supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), but President Akufo-Addo called on Ghanaians for a deliberate decision to invest in the rule of law and uphold the integrity of the institutions of state.

This, he said, would ensure that no person or group of persons take the law into their own hands with impunity.

He thanked the House for its co-operation in the enterprise to a common goal and aspiration of advancing the peace, progress and welfare of the Ghanaian people.