SONA: President didn’t engage in lamentations – Osae

Claims by some critics of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that he only sought to complain about the state of the country he inherited from the previous administration in his maiden edition of the State of the Nation address on Tuesday February 21, are wrong, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, Dean of Graduate Studies of the Institute of Local Government Studies, has said.

According to him, although the president did allude to the fact that the economy was in difficulty, he assured that he was going to fix those challenges confronting Ghanaians, for which reason criticism that he was only engaged in lamentation is incorrect.

The State of the Nation address, which centred on the economy, governance, corruption, security, education, and several other sectors, was greeted with varying opinions, with Minority Members of parliament and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress saying it failed to touch on the real state of the nation but was rather full of lamentation.

However, speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Wednesday February 22, Dr Osae said: “Although the president did mention the challenges the Ghanaian economy was facing, he did not engage in lamentation in his address. The president, upon telling Ghanaians the condition of their country, also stated what he would do to fix those challenges. The president also mentioned that he was not voted for to be complaining, he was voted for to fix the problems and so these statements defeat the assertion that he engaged in lamentation.

“Now the Minority members in parliament are saying they want to bring their version of the State of the Nation address. That is good, they should bring what they think is the status of the country for all Ghanaians to see and do the comparison.”