[ 2021-03-11 ]

Parliament begins debate on 2021 SONA
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin at the
beginning of the debate on the 2021 message on the
State of the Nation on Wednesday, cautioned
members not to turn the House into a playground.








The debate followed the presentation of the State
of the Nation Address by President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, in which he briefed
Ghanaians on the performance of the government of
the New Patriotic Party (NPP) during the first
term under his watch and made projections into the
future.

However, there were incessant heckling from some
colleague legislators as those who caught the
Speaker’s eye made their submissions, compelling
Speaker to caution that he would not tolerate any
act to turn the House into playground.

The angry Speaker noted the noisy interruptions
and heckling by some of the legislators during the
President’s presentation of the SONA.

When they began to sing loudly at the beginning of
the debate, Speaker Bagbin cautioned that the
chamber was not a musical theater, and he would
not allow the MPs to turn the chamber into a
playground.

Speaker Bagbin said:” Honourable members, this
is not a musical theater. What happened in
parliament yesterday, I don’t want to talk about
it. Don’t turn parliament into a playground, I
am not going to tolerate that at all.”

Mr Eric Opoku, MP for Asunafo South, who was on
his feet, continued with his submission after the
Speaker’s caution, and said President
Akufo-Addo’s address did not include how the
Government had handled the economy.

Mr Opoku queried why Ghana’s national debt was
rising, noting that “In December 2020, the debt
of our nation has been ballooned to GH¢286.9
billion, according to the Bank of Ghana,
indicating that within the last four years, the
NPP government has increased our total debt stock
by a whopping GH¢165 billion”.

According to the Asunafo South MP, “no
government in the history of Ghana has ever
borrowed this quantum of money within the space of
four years”.

He noted that Ghana’s debt, as he said the Bank
of Ghana puts it, constitutes 74.4 percent of the
nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Even if we are to add all the borrowings of all
the governments we’ve had in this country, they
never borrowed up to GHS165 billion. To whom much
is given much is expected. The debt of our nation
as the Bank of Ghana puts it constitutes 74.4
percent of our GDP. This is far above the IMF debt
sustainability threshold of 70 percent,” he
said.

The legislator wondered why the government had
securitized a number of the country’s
resources.

He suggested that the announcement by the
President that three helicopters had been procured
for the Ghana Police Service was false.

Mr Opoku also challenged the part of the
presentation that the country was having food
security if it imports tomatoes from other parts
of the world, ending that the Government had
brought hardship to the people.

Source - GNA

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