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Minority in Parliament has taunted President John Atta Mills for apparently being insincere with Ghanaians in his State of the Nation Address by describing the economy as �So far, Much Better�, asking the Chief Executive of the land to let his ministers join trotros or taxis to get him well informed about the current state of the economy. Making closing remarks on the address yesterday, Minority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Suhum, Frederick Opare-Ansah said President Mills did not tell Ghanaians the actual state of the nation, stressing that the economy has become so bad with suffocating taxes that the people, including trotros and taxi drivers and their passengers, are crying for salvation. He reminded Ghanaians that although the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration promised in its manifesto to drastically reduce or remove taxes to lessen the burden on the people, the Atta Mills-led governing party has virtually stabbed the masses in the back with high taxes after taking over power. According to him, the State of the Nation Address has been full of the usual promises and not what has been delivered to the people, quoting Mae West �An ounce of performance is worth more than a pound of promises�. Referring to the astronomical increase in fuel prices and recent imposition of taxes on bottled water, �Akpeteshie�, road tolls among others, the Minority Chief Whip pointed out that whilst the total relative increase in the volume of revenue due to these taxes is almost insignificant, it brings untold hardships to many people, especially those in the lower income brackets of society. �Consider the case of a trotro driver who plies his trade on the Weija to Kasoa road�whereas this poor driver used to buy petrol at GH�3.60 per gallon pre-NDC administration, today after drastic �reduction� in petroleum prices he now buys petrol at GH�5.20�, Hon. Opare-Ansah taunted. He noted that trotro drivers will now have to cough up GH�280 in tolls in five return trips between Weija and Kasoa instead of the GH�22.4 they used to pay before the NDC administration increased the road tolls through a legislation presented to Parliament on �on various taxes and tariff measures designed to provide relief for Ghanaians�. Hon. Opare-Ansah indicated that whereas the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration believed that the nation could capitalize on its goodwill to attract from abroad much-needed development capital and pay back the monies through investment on them, the NDC on the other hand has decided to tax the people heavily to invest same in development. He said the so-called high fiscal deficit left by the NPP, as the current administration claimed, was because the previous administration invested heavily on projects that will yield great benefits for the country. �I hope that as members of the executive go round commissioning projects, they remind themselves that those projects were funded from sources which contributed to the deficit that they so much love to complain about�, Hon. Opare-Ansah emphasised, adding �Do not let us mislead the public that deficit financing is necessarily bad�. On employment, the Minority Chief Whip pointed out that President Mills� call on his ministers to produce sector blue prints by the middle of the year for creation of jobs could be a waste of time and a fruitless venture. �When will these blue prints be vetted, approved and where necessary legislative backing obtained before implementation commences�, Hon. Opare-Ansah questioned. President Mills, the Minority Chief Whip observed, has failed to inform Ghanaians about the investment the NDC administration has made on the people, jobs created so far, original efforts at expansion in infrastructure to enable the representative of the people in Parliament measure the performance of government so far. Virtually questioning the sincerity of the NDC administration on the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), whereas the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, told Parliament in November, just four months ago, that �NYEP has provided jobs for 110,796 persons across the country�, the Minister for Youth and Sports recently informed the House that �45,235 beneficiaries are currently on the payroll of the programme�. He said in view of the fact that the Finance Minister has told Parliament that another 100,000 would be provided under the NYEP, it would have been appropriate if President Mills had informed Ghanaians about the current state of the programme to show his administration is actually running a transparent and honest government. On his part, the Majority Leader, Cletus Apul Avoka, whose closing remarks were interspersed with interjections by his colleagues on the minority side, lauded the President for the address. He called on Ghanaians to have faith, confidence and believe in themselves, which he said are fundamentals in achieving the main object of building a better nation. �We should be prepared to sacrifice and die a little for our country�, he said while urging for commitment and patriotism on the part of the citizenry to accelerate the development agenda of the country.