News:
February 17, 2011
President John Evans Atta Mills is set to deliver the 2011 State of the Nation Address on Thursday February 17. But even before he sets the ball rolling, some members of the opposition NPP believe it will be “another year of talk and no action”.
In his 2010 State of the Nation address, President Mills promised to set up a Constituency Development Fund for the nation’s MPs. He also promised to put before Parliament an Executive Instrument to repeal the exclusive National Honours Class of the Order of the Star of the Eagles of Ghana created by his predecessor, John Agyekum Kufuor, and awardable only to Presidents of Ghana.
President John Mills also promised to lead a winning war against the carnage on the nation’s roads. But nearly a year on, there is evidence according to NPP MP Matthew Opoku Prempeh, that suggest that not much has been done by the President to honour his numerous promises to the legislature and the nation.
The Manhyia MP told Citi News key among the many failed promises made to the House is the President’s announcement that he was taking steps to investigate serious leakages in the administration of the GETFund.
“Not only has nothing been done but he is deepening the misapplication of GETFunds. The monies are being used elsewhere other than what it was collected for. When I hear NDC communicators talking about 1.5 billion cedis of TOR funds being used for communication, I ask them about the billions of Ghana Cedis they have used from the GETFund and NHIS Fund. If you collect 300 million Cedis supposed to be transferred to the NHIS Fund or 280 Million to be transferred to GETFund or 500 million to be transferred to District Assembly Common Fund, and at the end of the year, they have not been transferred, it is clear that they have been misapplied,” he alleged.
“Action and work in this Government means nothing. They are opposed to each other. In 2010, he came and promised heaven with regards to dealing with accidents, but what happened at the end of 2010? Even at the beginning of 2011, one is scared to sit in his car and travel on a long distance journey. The President to all intents and purposes was not serious about some of the things he said”.
“The things he has promised in the last two addresses and his poor delivery of those promises, leaves me to believe that it is going to be another year of talk but no action” he said.
However, Information Minister, John Tia, disagrees. He told Citi News the President has indeed taken a lot of concrete steps towards implementing what he calls programmes and not promises.