News:
February 27, 2013
The Africa Centre for Development and Integrity (CeDI-AFRICA), has called on parliamentarians to be mindful of the social contract they have with Ghanaians and exhibit political maturity in Parliament as they played their oversight roles.
It said it was unfortunate that President John Dramani Mahama had to deliver his State of the Nation Address to a one sided Parliament and that parliamentarians did not represent their political parties but their constituents hence the need for them to be up and doing.
Mr Francis–Xavier Kojo Sosu, Director of Human Rights and Social Justice, said this at a Breakfast Forum on Tuesday dubbed: “Accountability & Social Justice; A Review of Government’s Vision as contained in the State of the Nation’s Address.”
Speaking on behalf of CeDI-Africa, Mr Sosu expressed his disappointment at what he called a betrayal of trust from the minority and commended President Mahama for being bold in outlining his mission and vision in the State of the Nation’s Address saying; “we consider as very ambitious and yet truly inspiring the hope and confidence in the youth.”
Mr Sosu brought to the fore three salient issues mentioned by the President which are; Housing and Accommodation, Social Protection, Transparency and Accountable Governance, as crucial because of their impact on the citizenry.
He said many governments have failed to tackle housing and accommodation, hence, the issue of the over one million unit housing deficit facing Ghanaians and tenants being burdened by Landlords over rent.
Mr Sosu said government must be able to outline the number of low-cost unit houses to be built, how much they would cost and the percentage of reduction in the deficit to be expected after their tenure and these must be included in the budget statement.
“On Social Protection, CeDI-AFRICA believed the new Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection should take a critical look at the Social Welfare System which has completely broken down,” he said.
He mentioned streetism as a matter for social welfare and social protection indicating that statistics from UNICEF showed about 100 million children were growing up on urban streets around the world.
According to the report, a headcount of street children and young mothers in different parts of Accra are as follows; 21,140 street children, 6,000 street babies, 7,170 street mothers under age 20, and 14,050 urban poor children.
Mr Bernard Ohemeng-Baah, Founder and President of Cedi-AFRICA, said no government in the Fourth Republic had been able to achieve 40 percent of what was contained in their manifestos and state of the nation’s address.
He said if any of the governments could achieve at least 50 percent of what they promised, Ghana would be a better place and that the opposition had a responsibility to keep government in check.
Mr Ohemeng-Baah called on citizens, civil society organizations, and the media to hold government accountable to its promises and responsibilities especially on the issue of water and electricity.
GNA