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State of Nation address turns State of promises address [Opinion]

The State of the Nation is an annual address to Parliament given covering economic, social, and financial state of the country.

But it seems the address is being abused by the leaders of the country.

They turn the platform to give a tall list of campaign promises.

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On Thursday, February 8, 2018, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered his second State of the Nation Address in Parliament with the minority describing the address as the usual promises given by presidents and politicians on campaign platforms which failed to address the actual issues confronting the nation.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has reiterated his government's commitment to sports development, revealing that a number of football pitches are under construction across the country.

According to him, each constituency will have an astroturf, and this will help produce the next generation of football stars.

"Government also remains committed to the development of football in the country," he said.

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A deal between Wembley Sports Construction Company Limited and Turkish company, HATKO, was agreed late last year to roll out the ‘One Constituency One Artificial Football Turf’ project in Ghana.

The project began with the commencement of the construction of an artificial pitch in Madina which is expected to be completed by March.

Amon Quartey, a Local Government Expert also stated that the president failed to address the actual issues currently confronting the nation and what he has achieved.

In his view, the president failed to talk about the one-village-one-dam, one-district-one-million-dollars, vigilantism and other issues confronting the nation.

He added that, the president restated some of the promises in this year’s budget but he scored him high on the economic stability indicators the president reported in his speech.

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The Minority wore black to welcome Nana Addo to indicate that indeed the country is in a mourning state.

They jeered and heckled as he delivered his Address while their counterparts on the majority side of the chamber cheered on.

The members of the Minority have over the past weeks boycotted parliamentary sittings in protest over the Cash-for-seat report, which they said didn’t take into account the views of its members.

All the macroeconomic gains touted by the President - a phenomenon that has characterised successive governments since 1992 - are not reflective of the realities on the ground because majority of Ghanaians do not experience these economic gains.

He failed to give dates when the promises he gave during the 2016 elections will be fulfilled.

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On major road highways in the country, governments has promised to expand the Tema motorway into a six lane road but those promises have not been accomplished.

The economic importance of the motorway cannot be over emphasized as it is the main route for transporting goods to the Tema Harbour, and also passengers and goods to the Volta and Northern Regions from Accra, and countries east of Ghana. It is part of the Trans-West

The Motorway also carries traffic from Accra to Tema (Communities 21, 22, 25) and settlements and communities in Sakumono and Teshie-Nungua.

The late President Atta Mill when he delivered the State of the Nation Address in 2010 has promised a loan facility for the expansion of the motorway.

Motorists expressed delight at his directive but no construction has started on the motorway.

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That loan is still in negotiations.

Former President John Mahama also disclosed in his State of the Nation Address where he gave gargantuan promises to expand the motorway but nothing has happened until the NDC was defeated in 2016.

No contractor has gone to site to start the much awaited project.

President Akufo-Addo also promised to fix bad roads in the country, his comment I see is a 'sweet promise' to Ghanaians.

He also expressed the government's determination to find the needed resources to fix the bad roads in the country, especially on the Eastern Corridor, a promise a lot of Ghanaians see to be another promise by Nana Addo.

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In all the State of the Nation Address delivered by the leaders to Ghanaians, we must wake up and say enough is enough.

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