SONA 2020 Haunted By Trail Of Unfulfilled Promise In Previous Ones

As President Akufo-Addo gears up for his last State Of the Nation Address (SONA) today, a trail of unfulfilled promises from past addresses has stoked feelings  uncertainty.

Critics point to past unfulfilled promises like the 2019 pledge to complete and commission 50 factories under the ‘One District One Factory’ program, the 2017 supposed ransoming of his Presidency to end illegal mining and to accelerate growth in Agriculture, to predict that the President will tiptoe around the issues again.

Even in areas where the Akufo-Addo government has given attention, critics point out that the promises made in those areas have turned out to be bigger than the fulfillment.

During last year’s SONA, the President promised to complete and commission for use, 50 of the over 275 factories that he had promised to build during the 2017 SONA. Critics point out that not even one factory has been completed by the government.

Rather, the government has gone around to stamp its name on small factories owned by private individuals that long existed before the advent of the Akufo-Addo government.

Critics point out that, even as President Akufo-Addo is not building as many factories as     expected, his SONA would seek to justify the shortcomings in tat regard.

Also, Ghanaians wuld be expecting President Akufo Addo tocome clean on the involvemeñt  of his appointees in illegal mining. Critics have pointed out that the President has failed totally to end illegal mining. As it has turned out that after clamping down on existing illegal miners, the government later collected excavators, mines and gold belonging the miners and distributed it to party people.

 Meanwhile, under President Akufo-Addo, capital expenditure has consistently dwindled from GH¢7.5 billion, representing 4.5 per cent of GDP in 2016. By 2018, this figure had been reduced significantly to a nominal of GH¢4.7 billion, representing 1.8 per cent of GDP.

Even though the government has been touting the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program as a master stroke that has hugely boosted agriculture in Ghana, critics point out that Agriculture has been steadily declining since 2017 when the Akufo-Addo government assumed office. In 2017, the percentage of Agricultural growth in relation to the rest of the Economy was 4% it has since dwindled to 2.6%.

On elections, critics point out that under President Akufo-Addo, the Electoral Commission has failed to deliver even a single successful election. From the referendum to create new regions, to the by-election at Ayawaso West Wuogon, through to the recent district level elections, the EC is seen to have failed to live up to the sterling performances under the previous governments.

Contrary to the President’s promise to bring perpetrators of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election to book in 2018, he has so far failed to do so, critics point out. Also his pledge to get the two main parties, NDC and NPP to work together to end political party vigilantism has ended on rocks with the NDC refusing to approve what it calls an insincere roadmap.

Free Senior High School program which the Government has been touting is also assessed to have turned out to be disappointing, as the government appears to have given up on earlier promises to expand infrastructure to accommodate the new drove of student admissions.

Amidst all of it, the President is seen to have also failed to ensure security across the country, as secessionists in the Volta Region, continue to pose a threat to national security while NPP party youth continue to attack party properties and people.

Giing the stting of failures, the fourth SONA will have to contend with a tall order of explanations.