President's address very insightful - Majority

Accra, Jan. 31, GNA - Most members of the Majority has described the President's State of the Nation Address as very brilliant, which gave an insight of what the nation has achieved and what must be done. They said for the first time in the history of the nation the State of the Nation Address has come after the budget, which further threw more light on the budget and what is expected.

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, a Deputy Minister of Finance said the President re-echoed some of the programmes in the budget such as education, trade and investment.


Prof Gyan-Baffour said the President has shown commitment to the zero tolerance policy by making himself available to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) as well as his government to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). "Unlike the former President who indemnified himself in the constitution, President Kufuor has done the opposite and has opened himself up for investigations."


Prof Gyan-Baffour said the West African Gas Pipeline Project, which is expected to be completed soon would complement Ghana's energy needs at a time t hat plans are far advanced for commencement of work by VALCO.


"The VALCO project will have a lot of background linkages that will create more jobs for Ghanaians."


He said the President made his intentions clear about private sector being the engine of growth and where the private investor needs assistance the government would intervene by the formation of consortiums to assist.

Mr Yaw Baah, Member of Parliament for Kumawu and the Chairman of the Judicial Select Committee of Parliament who commented on the People's Representation (Amendment) Bill, which government has made its intention to pass said the final decision as to when to implement it lies with the Electoral Commission (EC).


"It is the prerogative of the EC to decide when to implement the Bill, we in Parliament will only discuss it and pass it into law." "The Bill is not a new law, we are only amending the parent law, that is PNDC Law 284 Article 7 and 8."


Mr Baah said there would be logistics and administrative problems with the Bill but that would have to be sorted out by the EC in collaboration with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC). He said the Minority stance against the Bill is wrong, adding that; "They will have to wait till the Bill is discussed and amended." He said such amendments and passage as well as its implementation may take years to finish and that is about time the discussion on the amendments begins.


Mr Joe Ghartey, Deputy Attorney-General said the President did not mince words about the importance of the anti-corruption crusade and has shown example by submitting himself before the CHRAJ. 31 Jan. 06