State of the Nation Address: A President out of touch with reality!!

This week's edition of Ghana in Focus highlights the president of Ghana's State Of the Nation Address (SONA) and stresses this is a president who is seriously out of touch with reality.

We go into numerous topics that the president mentioned or did not mention and give our take on these topics.

Health - we explain that the state-run clinics/ hospitals leave a lot to be desired as they lack basic services and facilities to help with the delivery of health care in Ghana. We advise that the president did not address this and also the brain drain of Ghanaian health professionals to greener pastures. We also state the flaws of the so called National Health Insurance Scheme NHIS).

Education - we explain the flaws of the government's flagship so called free SHS programme and the president's failure to address its shortcomings. We also bemoan the president's failure to address the quality of education in Ghana along with the teacher shortage.

Unemployment - We criticize why the president omitted the thorny issue of unemployment in Ghana. Latest statistics indicate that 1 in 3 youth and 1 in 5 Ghanaians generally are unemployed. The president's failure to mention the unemployment crises in Ghana and some of its consequences is unacceptable.

Housing - Again another key area the president omitted from his address - We state there is a housing deficit of more than 4 million units and that the ordinary Ghanaian cannot afford to buy a home. So it's unacceptable that the president did not even mention a strategy to build affordable homes in Ghana to address the housing crises,

Economy - We touch on the vexed issue of the economy. we advise the economy is in dire straits as witnessed by the country's involvement in a 3-year IMF bailout programme. We also point out that the president did not mention the consequences of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) and the external debt Ghana owes countries like China.

Again for the president to skirt around this and imply that Ghana is on the road to economic recovery is somewhat disingenuous.

We also touch upon issues like illegal mining, corruption and the debt-to-GDP ratio that the President failed to mention.

In closing the president's State of the Nation Address was very disappointing as it failed to deal with the realities on the ground, the harsh challenges Ghanaians are facing and shows this is a president who is out of touch with reality.

Listen to the podcast here: Ghana in Focus special: State of the Nation Address - A president out of touch with reality?? (youtube.com)

Kind regards.
Dr Kwame Osei