President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Barring any last-minute hitch, President Akufo-Addo will today hold his maiden encounter with the media.
The press encounter for selected Ghanaian journalists, which is expected to be carried live on all major networks, including radio and television stations across the country, would kick-start at exactly half past midday at the Banquet Hall of the State House.
The President is expected to use the opportunity to tell the good people of Ghana what he and his government have been doing to transform the nation after six months into his four-year mandate.
Members of the presidential press corps and some selected members of the media from various media houses would be given the opportunity to ask questions.
Also expected to be present are his ministers, who would help him respond to specific questions related to their respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In an interview, Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, who is expected to moderate the programme, told journalists that “this press conference by the President is in line with his pledge when he took over office to be accountable and open and accessible to Ghanaian people.”
Aim
“He thinks that this accountability and interaction with Ghanaian people, first of all, is a democratic requirement that as a democratic President, once in a while you come back to the people and tell them what you are doing with the mandate that they gave you; secondly also, he recognizes he is a human being therefore he is not perfect and therefore once in a while you meet the people, they will give you ideas, they will make suggestions, they will even criticize your policies and so on, so that you can take on these criticisms on board and better fashion out your vision for the development of the country,” he emphasized.
Asked why the President would not wait for a year to render a proper account to the people, this was what he said, “we thought that one year will be a very long time; you know that the President already has a policy that once he is in the country, every month he will be in one of the regions of Ghana to interact with the people; interacting with the people has to be as frequent as possible and that is why he doesn’t think we have to wait till one year to do this”
“What we also have to emphasise is that this is not a press interaction to, if you want my favourite word, engage in self aggrandizement and say that we have done this, we have achieved this, we have achieved that; that’s not the purpose. It’s not proper to set exam questions, answer them and mark and grade ourselves,” he noted.
Format
Instead, he said, “The President will make a few remarks, then after that we will open the floor for questions…he will account to the people what he’s been doing this past six months which he believes if he keeps doing it will improve the fortunes of our country and help us achieve our development goals.”
DAILY GUIDE has gathered that questions, which are likely to come up, would focus on the recent $15 billion agreement signed between the government of Ghana and the Chinese government, the issues of Delta Force [NPP internal security details], the Bulk Oil Storage (BOST) contaminated oil brouhaha and the government’s reintroduction of 3% Value Added Tax (VAT) flat rate.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent