President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has observed that members of the minority opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament are “allergic to facts.”
According to the president, the NDC MPs do not appreciate any facts put out, and noted that that is threatening smooth national debate and consensus building.
At his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered in parliament yesterday, President Akufo-Addo said that there was no doubt that the government he is presiding over inherited “a weak economy choked by an avalanche of debts and with many projects abandoned.”
He said although the then NDC government, led by President John Mahama, was claiming to have invested heavily on roads infrastructure, there was still serious issues concerning road traffic in many parts of the major cities, particularly Accra.
He said he was setting the records straight, irrespective of the heckling by the minority who clearly did not agree with him (President Akufo-Addo).
“It is a shame that after seven years or so after work has started on the Eastern Corridor roads, we are nowhere near completion….and yet this is a strategic road that will provide a much shorter and cheaper link between the northern and southern parts of our country and suitable alternative road for the land-locked towns,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said for instance, that the Eastern Corridor road, which is supposed to serve as a major link between the southern and northern parts of Ghana, is not completed due to excessive propaganda of the NDC in their time in office, noting that the network of roads is suffering from deliberate unproductive propaganda.
He also lamented how massive cocoa cash was used to fund cocoa roads in the country at a time when cocoa prices were going down under the previous administration, saying, “It comes as no surprise that COCOBOD has issued directives to suspend work on all three sections (of the road network) which comes up to almost 100 kilometres.
“Mr. Speaker, we are determined to find the resources to complete the Eastern Corridor road…there is a crying need for work to be done on all our roads; the Western and Central Corridor roads, trunk roads, feeder and town roads around the country for the required urgent attention.
By William Yaw Owusu