In fulfillment of article 67 of the constitution, which requires to make this address at the beginning of each Parliamentary session.
President Mahama speaks: According to Article 67 of the constitution, the president is to deliver an address on the state of the nation to this house. It is my privilege to welcome him.
We’ll continue to decentralize government by decentralizing some departments and exploring others to decentralize, giving greater authority to assemblies.
Effective governance starts with the presidency. I’ll make every effort to see the constitutional review committee’s recommendations observed. We’ll mainstream local economic development via employment programs.
Strengthening parliament is crucial. We must let it play its oversight role effectively. Almost all MPs have decent offices, and they’ll get new laptops with full internet connectivity. We’ll commence a feasibility study to construct a new parliamentary chamber block at the state house and explore appropriate housing for MPs to guarantee their safety.
Civil society will continue to have a role dictating our direction and we’ll continue to practice freedom of religion. The churches should regulate the excesses of their members.
We’ll work with the judicial council to provide new modern courtrooms and we’ll equip judges to properly execute their duties. We’ll promote citizen based monitoring of government.
Transparent and accountable governance: We just used a barometric voters register for the first time and our elections were deemed free, fair, and transparent. We’ll keep providing the EC with the resources needed for reforms.
The Tema Oil Refinery must once again become the most efficient in West Africa through private-public partnership. The navy, air force, and army have been retooled to protect our gas interests. The completion of the vessel tracking and monitoring system being installed will allow us to monitor incoming vessels via radar.
An enterprise development center with support from Jubilee partners will be established in the Western region to help entrepreneurs take advantage of the oil opportunities there. It will be a win win for us and our foreign partners.
We’re installing solar panels in off grid communities. The private sector has shown interest in renewable energy investments. We’ll commence the distribution of over 20,000 solar lanterns to reduce kerosene lanterns and their attendant indoor pollution.
The broadcasting bill has been on the drawing board for a long time, and it’s now time to establish standards for electronic media. We must ensure balance, fairness, and objectivity in the media. Access to community radio will be improved.
A major issue will be the implementation of the recommendations of the constitutional review committee, so we’ve established a CRC implementation committee.
We should revise to criminal offenses act to expand the definition of corruption. We should give impetus to the fight against corruption by sanctioning those we catch and making an example of them. We’ll push for critical reforms with the attorney general. Our commitment to this fight remains unshakable.
We hope to see the current problems finished in April, but the system will still be fragile for some time.
Two engineers died in an underwater accident when trying to clear the West African Gas Pipeline. We’ve lost 250 megawatts of our electricity supply. I’m adequately aware of the challenges and discomfort the situation presents our citizens and businesses. We expect an additional 500 megawatts in capacity this year, including 133 by the end of February.
The erratic electricity supply is of concern to me and I've worked hard to address it. The unreliable water supply is also bad, and the current exercises do not represent our progress. A series of events have set us back significantly, but we’re working to dig our way out.
We will see improvements in flood control and sanitation in Accra. The minister of lands and natural resources has been tasked to see that mining meets the need and expectations of the communities where it takes place, creates jobs and does not hurt the environment. There is an unacceptable collusion between Ghanaians and illegal foreign miners, and we’re working to better regulate the sector so that mining better benefits Ghanaians.
Last year, we had a national sanitation exercise. The task force experience is being reviewed to engage all stakeholders in a more sustained and concerted effort to do away with rubbish. We need to focus on waste management, recovery, and recycling and incentives to engage the private sector in pollution control.
Exorbitant rents violate our laws and suffocate Ghanaians, I’ll work to address this. We must improve the supply of clean drinking water to all, and some of our efforts have already yielded results. In the long term, we need to decentralize water management for cost and delivery efficiency.
I’m interested in urban renewal and guaranteeing all Ghana’s access to safe toilet facilities. We will combine projects for urban housing and sanitation provision and waste disposal in areas that are overcrowded and lack hygiene. We will construct low cost units for lower income groups.
We’re looking at developing a new seaport in the west. We are investigating unauthorized charges at airports and harbors that burned importers.
We’ve commission the exploration of plans for a new international airport in Accra and the expansion of airports in other cities. We’ll begin a feasibility study on collaborating with the private sector to establish a national airline.
As we continue, there will be significant signs of improvement in our railway network in the next three years. The private sector has a role to play in the ongoing modernization of railways. We’ve seen a boom in aviation, with passenger traffic through our international airport more than quadrupling in the last three years and domestic traffic increasing 10 fold.
Cocoa board is funding the upgrading of gravel roads in cocoa producing regions. We will rehabilitate and expand the Accra-Tema motorway and we’ll commence work this year on a new interchange at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. Government’s plan to revamp the railway sector is ongoing. There has been progress in this sector.
As for roads, we have clear plans for the roads and transport sector. These include the introduction of public private partnerships on certain roads. This year, we will move many ongoing road projects very near to completion.
We will add over 500 kilometers of fiber optic cable starting at Ho and reaching 70 communities. We need to shift from analogue to digital television transmission.
Telephone subscription here is close to 20 million, nearly double the number from 4 years ago. We need to improve broadband infrastructure, which can help us improve healthcare, education, and more.
Private sector investment is only possible if we have good infrastructure- roads, regular water and electricity and communications networks.
Tourism must help us realize the full economic potential of our culture and creative arts. The national Commission on Culture is being restructured as the government’s leading advisory on these areas. These industries must remain integral parts of our private sector.
Manufacturing: We will facilitate the emergence and growth of a manufacturing sector by reviewing tax codes to make it more business friendly, we’ll have an envelope for ailing manufacturers and set aside industrial areas in certain cities. Work is ongoing on a $1.2 billion ammonia urea fertilizer plant through a partnership with the Indian government.
At least 70% of the world market price for cocoa should go to farmers. We will use technology to increase yield per hectare.
A more coherent focus on fisheries and aquaculture development has been initiated with the establishment of a ministry and the planned establishment of a college.
Total land irrigation will be increased nationwide. Under a new world bank loan on commercial agriculture, we’ll invest in such projects that will allow year round farming.
We will award contracts where companies are competitive in quality and timeliness of service delivery. Through modernization techniques like productivity enhancement techniques, better seeds, and access to tractors like technology have improved productivity.
Partnership with the private sector has brought about accelerated growth and economic development. We are now 62 on the world bank’s ease of doing business list by country, but we need to do more. Private sector initiatives will now be supervised by the presidency, and the Private Sector Development Strategy will cover all angles of Private sector development.
We need to curtail public servants’ reliance on the use of state vehicles and free fuel. We’ve also taken measures to control MDA spending beyond their budgetary allocation. We’ll raise tax and non-tax revenue by plugging leakages.
Many of the gang of four, (now six) oil projects are nearing completion. We need to realign distortions in the pricing of fuel products. We’ve been shelling out GH¢150 million per month to companies handling distribution and this created an illicit smuggling industry.
As we struggle to settle the wage bill, public workers continue to demand wage increases and threaten to strike. The meat is now down to the bones and we must think about revising wages to improve national progress. We demand better services from our public employees commensurate with the money we pay them.
We must ensure that it does not constitute too big a strain on our economy. The wages are squeezing out crucial investments, and if we don’t do something soon, we’ll lack money for basic infrastructure and development.
The personal emoluments have about tripled in the past three years. We spend 60.9% of public revenue to pay public workers, nearly double the global prudent level. We did this to enhance fairness, productivity, and motivation in the public sector.
The banking sector has seen an improved NPL ratio since 2009. These improvements have made Ghana an attractive destination for direct foreign investments. The challenge facing us now is the misalignment of budget items, like emoluments, debt servicing, and so on.
The cedi has enjoyed relative stability, boosted by strong foreign reserves that have nearly doubled in recent years.
In 2011, we may have been the fastest growing economy in the world. We are still moving into the full middle income bracket. We’ve made progress in macroeconomic stability with inflation in single digits for 30 months.
Growers have been registered to support the operations of these factories and they have supported farmers with inputs like fertilizers. Based on their example, I am overseeing the establishment of the Western Corridor Development Authority.
The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority has facilitated partnerships to establish 3 agro processing factories in the north.
We will continue with the National Youth Achievers Award. We will revamp the youth training institutes for nation building training.
The youth are today’s leaders, not the leaders of the future. We need to create sustainable job opportunities by developing youth centers to promote youth meetings, cultural events, conferences, and more.
I request the FA and management to go to the drawing board and come up with a formidable team to take us to the world cup. A lack of planning can prevent us from participating in the Olympics and other events. We need to incentive's assemblies to maintain an athletic facilities in each district.
A few weeks ago, the Black Stars were eliminated from AFCON. Almost a year ago, president Mills urged our football authorities to take penalty kicks seriously as it often is our downfall. What seemed humorous turned out to be prophetic.
We need a strong and resilient economy. We’ve had consistent growth for decades.
Oye Lithur is capable and her skills will soon be apparent through her work.
The ministry will establish a database of our poorest people and work to enhance their access to social benefits. We cannot advance as a nation half poor and half rich.
We have shown commitment to this program by making Dr Danaa a minister of state.
The mandate of the ministry for Gender, Children, and Social Protection is not for the promotion of gay rights but to bring the fragmented schemes addressing marginalized people together.
It is important to be mindful of members of our society marginalized for cultural, economic, or other reasons. We will have programs to address these people.
We’ve made progress towards universal access to HIV prevention. There has been a 25% decline in new infections among youth. The ongoing 5-year strategic plan should eliminate mother to child transmission and cut infection rates in half. Over 625,000 expectant mothers will be tested, among other things.
We will establish an Eastern Region university geared towards environmental research. We need to improve psychiatric treatment and better integrate it into healthcare. We’ll scale up the training of midwives, nurses, and allied health workers.
Government will incentive's special educators to see that our special needs students benefit from technology.
We will construct 200 new community based senior high schools. This aggressive expansion also means the need for more qualified and motivated teachers and administrative staff. We’ll design and implement a distance education program for teachers taking advantage of modern communications platforms so that students and staff at these colleges can connect remotely.
We will progressively expand School Feeding (Programmed) to all basic public schools in rural communities and give out free uniforms, textbooks, and laptops.
We need to integrate kindergarten education into basic school. We shall expand kindergarten teacher training so that children begin acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills early and have a stronger base to build on.
I extend a hand to social and religious bodies and private sector education operators to engage in this national exercise to expand access to and quality of education.
We must expand access to education at all levels. We will reward outstanding educators and work to improve gender parity in education as well as working towards affordability.
A sick population cannot accelerate our economy, and the healthcare system is still understaffed. We will work towards improving access, service quality, working conditions, and we will hire more staff. We will start establishing regional hospitals in the Eastern and Upper East regions, upgrade the Central and Volta regional hospitals into teaching hospitals so that we enhance medical training. We’ll build a new Kumasi Hospital to diagnostic KATH. There will be an additional 1600 CHIPS(?) compounds. We will build more polyclinics.
We need to use technology and innovation as well as public-private partnership to deliver a prosperous nation. We will build an economy that rewards hard work, an economy where nepotism has no place.
Through private sector partnership we will expand infrastructure such as roads and bridges, electricity, clean water, adequate medical care, and more.
We must be proud of these accomplishments, but real challenges remain, there is a lot of work to do before we reduce poverty and expand infrastructure. These problems are formidable but not insurmountable.
We can achieve more by working together. We have experienced great development in the last two decades - roads, expanding health facilities, and more.
We have held 6 elections since 1992 with the (Electoral Commission) EC earning a reputation as one of the best electoral institutions in Africa.
I entered public service to improve the lives of our people, to see children grow into responsible adults, where workers are proud of their country, where women are safe from maternal mortality and we all share in the benefits.
Our recent elections have been called by international observers as the most credible, free, and fair since 1992. Our journey has been marked by improvements.
We must put the people first, have a strong and resilient economy and expand infrastructure.
People are our most treasured asset, so we need human resource development through education, healthcare, and protection of the vulnerable. We must work on increasing our productivity and protecting those who can protect themselves. Jobs are key to leading a meaningful life. Our policies will be geared towards sustainable employment generation followed by a focus on wages.
I promised to work hard to place us on the right path and avoid development obstacles. Ghana is a different place than when we began our journey to democratic governance.
No comments:
Post a Comment