Alexander Afenyo-Markin
The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has criticised President John Dramani Mahama’s address to Parliament, dismissing it as a rehashed narrative of lamentations rather than actionable solutions.
He argued that instead of presenting concrete policies to address the pressing challenges facing the nation, the President chose to dwell on past grievances and shift blame.
Reacting to the address on the floor of Parliament, the Minority Leader maintained that Ghanaians expected bold, pragmatic steps to tackle issues such as unemployment, economic challenges, and governance inefficiencies, rather than what he described as a repetitive cycle of complaints without clear direction.
He questioned President Mahama’s claim of reducing the number of ministers, arguing that the reduction was offset by an increase in presidential staffers and appointees.
“The President again says that he has delivered fewer ministers, but it is clear that his strategy is if less is more divided. You have appointed fewer ministers, but more and more and more presidential staffers and more appointees,” he remarked.
The Minority Leader further accused the President of repackaging old narratives as though they marked a fresh start.
“The President again came to this House with a familiar story—the usual lamentations. He packaged it in a language as though we have a new beginning. If the President has any concerns, his duty is to fix them,” Mr. Afenyo-Markin stated.
He also criticised the lack of female representation in Mahama’s cabinet, which consists of 19 ministers, only two of whom are women.
“The daughter of the founder of the NDC is missing from his administration. Where are the women in his government? In percentage terms, we have only 10% female representation in cabinet,” he noted.
Turning to economic matters, he questioned the government’s claims of payment of domestic bonds and energy sector debts.
“The President, as part of his lamentations, is telling the nation that they have been able to do two things: pay domestic bonds that matured and successfully undertake some financial engineering to pay energy sector debts to keep our lights on. My question is, Mr. Speaker, where are the revenues used for this purpose?” he asked.
He further accused the Mahama administration of exacerbating unemployment, stating that in under 100 days, the government had sacked many workers.
“The same government he has condemned has today told us that we have 2.2 million unemployed. What he has forgotten is that in his administration, in less than a hundred days, we are seeing mass termination of workers. Today, the youth of the country are saying ‘One Mahama, Many Terminations,’” he stated.
Mocking President Mahama’s new poultry initiative, Mr. Afenyo-Markin drew a parallel to a past initiative that failed to deliver.
“We are happy to hear from the President that he is going to launch ‘Nkoko Nketenkete’ (to wit: small chickens). We are happy to hear this, but we are curious because only yesterday we heard of ‘Akonfem’ (Guinea fowl),” he quipped.
On the School Feeding Programme, the Minority Leader contended that President Mahama failed to acknowledge the efforts of previous administrations.
“The President talks about the School Feeding Programme and claims they are now feeding the children well. What he didn’t say was that when he assumed office, the previous government had paid every single one of the caterers.
“He also failed to mention that former President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is seated in this chamber, was the one who initiated the School Feeding Programme,” Mr. Afenyo-Markin concluded.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House