The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has slammed the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President John Dramani Mahama, describing it as a performance of imagination rather than a true account of the country’s real condition.
The speech delivered on February 27, he said, failed to fulfil the constitutional requirement under Article 67 for the President to give a truthful account of the state of the nation.
According to him, instead of presenting a clear and honest assessment of Ghana’s situation, the President delivered what he described as a carefully crafted political performance.
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Concluding the debate on the President’s address in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Afenyo-Markin said, “On the 27th of February, what the President did amounted to nothing. He did not fulfil the constitutional command. What he did was deliver a performance on the state of his imagination,” the Minority Leader said.
He argued that the two-hour speech was filled with soaring rhetoric, elegant metaphors, and carefully managed statistics, but failed to address several critical challenges facing the country.
Key issues ignored
The Minority leader said the President’s address did not mention several pressing national concerns, including rising electricity tariffs, the return of power outages, and job losses among young people.
According to him, the President also failed to speak about the challenges surrounding recruitment into the security services, which he said have left many young applicants frustrated.
“Two hours of oratory, yet the President forgot that there are idle hands on the streets of our cities,” he said.
He also criticised the government for repeatedly attributing current economic difficulties to inherited problems from the previous administration.
“The President kept saying ‘inherited’ like a weapon. Every crisis inherited, every deficit inherited, every debt inherited. But every recovery he claims he delivered,” he stated.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin insisted that governance should be judged by tangible results rather than excuses.
“Judge this government not by what they claim they met, but by what they have done. Not by the excuses they manufacture, but by the lives they have failed to transform,” he said.
Questions over government priorities
The Minority Leader also questioned what he described as the government’s misplaced priorities, alleging that the administration claims it lacks funds for critical projects while pursuing luxury expenditures.
“How can the government say it has no money to continue building hospitals yet suddenly find money to purchase a private jet for the President?” he asked.
“No money for hospitals but money for jets. No money for the sick but money for comfort in the sky,” he added.
IMF programme debate
Mr. Afenyo-Markin also defended the economic decisions of the previous administration, particularly the move to seek support from the International Monetary Fund during Ghana’s economic crisis.
The programme, he said, helped stabilise the economy at a difficult time and accused the current government of benefiting from policies it had previously criticised.
“When Ghana’s economy buckled under post-COVID pressures, it was the previous administration that made the hardest call by going to the IMF and implementing fiscal discipline,” he stated.
Call for inclusive governance
The Minority Leader further urged the government to address concerns surrounding the introduction of artificial intelligence systems in security service recruitment processes, warning that many young people without reliable internet access could be unfairly excluded.
He stressed that while technological advancement is necessary, policies must be designed to ensure equal opportunities for all citizens.
“Technology should level the playing field, not tilt it,” he said.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin assured Ghanaians that the Minority would continue to hold the government accountable and speak the truth about the real state of our nation.