The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reacted to President John Evans Atta Mills' Fourth State of the Nation Address saying the party is not surprised the President gave the country a clean bill of health and also said the economy is "full of promise".
President Mills told the lawmaking body during his State of the Nation address, the last of his first term before Ghana heads to the December polls to either renew his mandate or revoke it, that the country was �stable and in reasonable good health' while the 'economy' to him was �full of promises�.
Themed: �Still Building a Better Ghana�, President Mills said under his watch, the economy made substantial progress with the country recording unprecedented growth rate in the annals of the nation�s history "with a provisional growth rate approaching 14%."
But National Chairman of the NPP, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey says it comes as no surprise to the NPP to hear these remarks from a President who opts to stand idly by whiles his appointees flout his orders.
Speaking in an interview on Citi FM, the NPP National Chair said; �i am not surprised that he said he is managing the economy well. This is a president who said, don�t pay yet they go ahead to pay; then he takes no action against them�so for him definitely the state of the nation will be acceptable�,� he said.
His statement was in apparent reference to the GH�51 million judgment debt paid to Alfred Agbesi Woyome and the revelation by the Head of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Mortey Akpadzi that President Mills intervened on two occasions to stop the payment of monies to the embattled NDC bankroller.
As usual, his address in Parliament was not without incident as it was characterized by much heckling from the Minority who repeatedly sang �Woyome Woyome Woyome, gargantuan oo munkye-ndi".
President Mills, who was equally calm despite the attitude of the Minority, in a lighthearted manner remarked at the end of the address, �even though I expected to be heckled, I did not expect the heckling to be so gargantuan.�
However, more drama was to follow as no sooner had the president finished his delivery, than all the Minority members, clad in black and mourning what they called the moribund state of the nation, jumped to their feet waving red cards and chanting; �a-w-a-y, a-w-a-y, a-w-a-y�.
But Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey says he finds nothing wrong with the Minority's behaviour towards the president.
Commenting on the heckling, the NPP National Chair pointed out that it was "not so bad" compared to scenes in the parliament of other countries where members of the House "throw chairs and hurl other harmful objects" at one another.
According to him, the rendition of the Woyome song performed by the Minority was a spontaneous one.
�I don�t think anybody planned to sing the Woyome song; the song is already on people�s mind because of how controversial the issue is�at the end of the day it is what is really on the ground that counts�,� he added.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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