SONA24: ‘Minority wanted to boycott disrespectful Akufo-Addo but Mahama spoke to us’ — Sam George

The Minority Caucus in parliament initially wanted to boycott President Nana Akufo-Addo's last State of the Nation Address to protest what they described as the President's "disrespect" to Parliament, Ningo Prampram MP, Samuel Nartey George has said.

As the President arrived around 10:30am, the Minority side of Parliament was empty.

However, according to the MP, the Minority Caucus returned to the chamber after a meeting with former President and NDC flagbearer John Mahama.

He explained in a post via X that the caucus' decision to boycott was due to Akufo-Addo's failure to assent to some private members' bills passed by Parliament.

"Our grievance with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stems from his disrespect for the work Parliament does relative to Private Members Bills. He continued refusal to assent to Bills passed by the House constitutes an affront to the independence of Parliament,” he wrote.

However, "after listening to the quintessential Statesman, John Dramani Mahama, we have out of respect to him and our Constituents returned to the Chamber to listen to the State of the Nation Address," Mr. George noted in his post.

President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is set to deliver his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament.

The SONA is an annual event where the President outlines his government's achievements in the previous year and charts the path for the following year.

It allows the President to account to Parliament and by extension, the people of Ghana on the state of affairs.