President Delivers SONA Feb. 20

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

The Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic yesterday reconvened for the first meeting of its last session with the President expected to deliver his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) to the Parliament on February 20.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who made this known in the business statement for the first week of the meeting, also announced that there would be a nationwide voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission as well as population and housing census by the Ghana Statistical Services in the course of the meeting and, therefore, called on members to fully participate in those important national exercises.

Attendance on the first day of the meeting was very encouraging which also coincided with the national durbar for the distribution of new ambulances for all the 275 constituencies in the country.

Parliament, therefore, closed early after the opening statements from the leaders of the House … to enable all Members of Parliament (MPs) to be present and receive the ambulances on behalf of their respective constituencies.

The majority leader asked all MPs to be present at the Black Star Square where the event was taking place to receive the ambulances as heads of the constituencies even though metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) would be present.

He said MPs are the heads of the constituencies and so the ambulances would have to be presented to the constituencies through them.

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, however, raised concern that invitation to the MPs to participate in the event did not come through official notification, adding that parliamentarians ought to be given some respect.

He said despite the fact the notification was given to them on the very day the event was taking place they would fully participate as stakeholders in the governance structure.

The majority members cheered in the chamber by virtue of the fact that minority MPs would also benefit from the ambulances.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr