President John Mahama
With the cocoa price haircut still resonating across the country and the lame government response not holding, presenting a State of the Nation Address (SONA) at this time is a hard sell, especially when not grounded in truth.
More so when the presentation shows elements of a recycled stuff, almost same as what we were served last year.
It was an exercise in propaganda rhetoric by a President who has mastered this art.
We would have expected that at this time a year and over into his second and last term, the blame-gaming would give way to practical tackling of the challenges of governance well packaged without propaganda.
We have had enough of the ‘poor management of the economy by the previous regime accusation’ from the President. It has become monotonous and should not have found space in the SONA. If the President and his teams expect the repeated references to incite Ghanaians against their predecessors, they have missed the bull’s eye. The traditional goodwill new governments enjoy is fast depleting and giving way to serious critiquing by Ghanaians.
What have been the tangible or otherwise of the so-called reset agenda of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) so far? Where is the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) and the projected amount of monies to be recovered?
These should have found space in the SONA prominently.
Shouldn’t the President be pointing at the flowing dividends from the 24-Hour Economy in such a presentation a little over a year since assuming power?
It is getting late. This is not the time to be presenting us with the tale about the enactment of a law underpinning the policy. Juxtapose this NDC cornerstone policy with the Free Senior High School (SHS) and the difference is clear. A World Bank Report states that “the Free SHS is Ghana’s most significant social policy since 1957,” according to a February 23, 2026 Bloomberg Report. Whereas the Free SHS policy was synonymous with the assumption of power by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the 24-Hour Economy slogan, a little over a year today, is still showing symptoms of a pipedream.
Today, we are being told to disabuse our minds about industries employing more staff to run a shift system in opposition to what we were previously told about the so-called game-changer. The scorecard which the President dangled before us, as represented by the SONA, prompts questions in all the sectors.
The similarities between what we were served last year and this year makes it difficult not to believe that we were treated to a rehashed presentation.
Our hope of hearing how the President has overcome some of the challenges he claimed to have inherited was dashed. We were rather presented with tales of unconvincing stuff which beats imagination.
With war now raging in the Middle East, as US and Israel attack Iran, in the face of an imminent disruption of global trade, Ghana would not be spared. The projections as contained in the SONA would suffer a jolt, but going by the NDC theory, such developments do not impugn on our economy because the Middle East is too far from Ghana. Do they still stand by that? Interesting times ahead.