By Stephen Odoi-Larbi
President John Evans Atta Mills, yesterday told members of parliament that he least expected so much heckling on the floor of the House by members from the minority side when delivering his fourth State of the Nation Address.
“Though I knew I would be heckled, because it is the usual routine, I didn’t expect this gargantuan heckling,” President Mills noted in a hilarious manner, to the laughter of both sides (majority and minority), as well as those occupying the public gallery.
His pronouncement came moments after being shown the red card by the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP), upon completing his over one hour State of the Nation Address.
During the entire period, members of the minority NPP jeered President Mills in his delivery, and at a point, sang what has now become a popular song in the midst of the Woyome scandal; “Woyome, woyome, woyome woyom-e-oooo – gargantuan wonkye ndi” to register their displeasure about how he was handling the GH¢52 million judgment debt doled-out to the self-acclaimed financier of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
Continuing, President Mills described the state of the nation as “stable and is in reasonable good health,” adding that, “the economy is full of promises, and have made great progress, in terms of development.”
President Mills’ State of the Nation Address was the last in his first four-year term in office, before the country heads for another general polls in December, 2012, to either reject or renew his mandate for another four-year term.
Commenting further on his achievement, the Associate Law Professor told the legislative house that the country had made great strides in terms of development ever since he assumed office some three years ago.
“For the past three years in office, we have made great strides in the right direction,” he noted. But the minority, in a swift response, retorted, “in gargantuan Woyome direction.”
He said under his watch, the country had recorded the highest ever growth rate in the annals of the nation’s history, with the provisional growth rate approaching fourteen percent.
He told the House that though inflation was one of the worst economic nightmares any country could go through, because of its economic and financial difficulties, he was glad that Ghana had sustained first single digit rates in decades, recording an enviable rate of 8.55% for 2011. This achievement, he noted, was the lowest in 42 years, since 1970.
That notwithstanding, President Mills said the budget deficit, as at the end of September, 2011, was 2% of GDP, as compared to 14.5% of GDP in 2008.
The successes chalked in managing the economy, he told the law makers, had resulted in increased investor confidence in the economy.
In the area of education, the President said his administration had made great gains in constructing several classroom structures to accommodate hundreds of pupils who now benefit from a full day of classroom teaching. The previous shift system, he noted, had now been eliminated.
He said contracts for the construction of over 1,700 additional classroom blocks for schools under trees had been awarded throughout the country, and was expecting 4,320 of such schools that existed in 2009 to be reduced by about 40%.
Touching on security, law and order, the number one statesman of the land said the strength of the Police Service had been increased by over 4,000, and at the same time, taken steps to modernise its forensic facilities to assist in crime prevention and detection. He added that a large quantity of vehicles, communication gadgets, and bulletproof vests had been provided to boost the operational efficiency of the Police Service.
To this end, he charged the security institutions to be in a state of readiness to ensure peace and calm before, during, and after the general elections. He pledged his fullest support to such institutions in the discharge of their duties.
He promised to ensure that controversial cases of cocaine disappearances in the country would be investigated with a different approach, while the fight against corruption would be intensified.
