Dan Botwe: I Won’t Take Mills Serious

Barely hours after delivering his second state of the nation address to Parliament, President Mills has come under a barrage of criticisms from members of the minority side of the house, many of who describe the speech as “uninspiring and a repetition of old promises.”

For Okere MP, Dan Botwe, he has every reason not to take the president serious because he has failed to live by his promises. President John Mills in his previous state of the nation address promised among other things to provide office facilities to the MPs and to improve their general working conditions.

However in his address on the floor on Thursday, the president admitted some challenges which made it difficult to honour some of those promises, explaining “man proposes but God disposes.”

This appeared not to have gone down well with some of the minority members. “I was not impressed at all. It is annual ritual. I am not saying MPs are more important but he was addressing the nation through the MPs and the House of Parliament. He said something last year which he himself has admitted that he was going to set up a constituency development fund for MPs. He did not do it. No attempt whatsoever was done to even start the process of achieving that,” he told Joy News.

“How can we take him serious?” He quizzed, adding “If he wants us to take him serious then he should begin to implement some of these things."

MP for Evalue Gwira, Catherine Afeku said the address was empty and failed to address gender issues. For MP for Manhyia, Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO), he did not hear anything at all and minutes after the president exited Parliament, he was still awaiting the State of the Nation Address.

But the majority side of the house believes the address touched on key issues affecting the country. Former Majority Leader and Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, Alban Bagin maintained that the speech elucidated how the government was going to improve the general standard of living of the people.

He reiterated the president’s pledge to make water and housing accessible to low income earners. In this regard, he said he together with the Vice President, John Mahama will be going to Korea to conclude negotiations that will improve the housing policy of the country.

Source: myjoyonline.com/ghana