Press zooms in on State of the Nation Address of President Akufo-Addo, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has mounted a stern defence of his government’s expenditure listing 16 projects that borrowed funds have been used for since his assumption of office in January 2017 is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has mounted a stern defence of his government’s expenditure listing 16 projects that borrowed funds have been used for since his assumption of office in January 2017.
In a State of the Nation Address delivered on March 8, 2023 in Parliament, the President said there were legitimate questions being asked about how the country’s debt situation worsened.
Ghana is trying to restructure most of its public debt, estimated at 576 billion cedis ($45 billion) at the end of November. Local bondholders have been asked to voluntarily exchange 130 billion cedis of debt for new bonds that will pay between 8.35% and 15% interest, compared with an average of 19% on old bonds.
However, he stressed that the government had not been reckless in borrowing and in spending, adding that the debts the nation was servicing were not only contracted during the period of this administration.
President Akufo-Addo said the funds borrowed by his administration had been used to improve the entire country with no district or constituency being left out.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has rallied Ghanaians to believe in themselves and their capacity to overcome the current economic problems bedeviling the country.
He said when dark clouds created shadows that momentarily shielded yearned-for vision, they should not be moments of despair, adding: “Such moments call for strength of character, a sense of purpose and an abiding commitment to the general good.”
President Akufo-Addo made the call when he delivered a message on the State of the Nation to Parliament in Accra Wednesday (March 8, 2023).
He described the economic challenges as a phase in the development process, and that he was certain “that this too shall pass. We have done it before and we will do it again”.
Present in Parliament for the address were former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama; the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah; justices of the Supreme Court, Service Commanders, the Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, members of the Diplomatic Corps and other national figures.
President Akufo-Addo, whose address was heavy on the economy, said history was replete with instances when nations, at a point in time, came under difficult situations.
He touched on the gravity of the economic situation and how quickly the economy would be stabilised towards rapid growth.
Tracing the trajectory of the current situation, the President said prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, all empirical indicators pointed in the direction that the country was doing well.
“I have said, and many others, including the Managing Director of the IMF, have also said, that our economy was doing well until COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine took us off course,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said the two-pronged crisis resulted in the currency buffeting, inflation shot up very high and, for the first time in the life of the country, “debt exchanges have become the language of everyday conversations”.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, has challenged men to actively partake in the drive to build an equitable society.
“As we honour and celebrate the uniqueness and accomplishment of women, we also call for all to embrace equity.
Equity is not just nice-to-have, it is a must-have. A focus on gender equity must be part of every society’s DNA and I challenge everyone, especially our men to join the movement to make equity a must-have,” she urged.
Mrs Akufo-Addo made the appeal in a statement to mark International Women’s Day (IWD) yesterday on the global theme; “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.
Under the campaign theme; “Embrace Equity”, this year’s IWD seeks to move the conversation on gender equality beyond giving equal opportunities to men and women, to ensuring equitable access to resources for true inclusion.
It recognises women and girls championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education while exploring the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities across the world.
The theme also puts the spotlight on the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence.
Relatedly, the Association of Women in the Media (ASWIM) has urged the government to employ strategies to increase the participation of Ghanaian girls and women in the digital space, to thrive.
“Equity interventions, ASWIM believes, should be pursued over those of equal opportunities, to creating fairness for girls and wom¬en in STEM school enrolment, capacity building programmes, incubation and startups of busi¬nesses and access to financing in this space.
Additionally, ASWIM supports the call of the UN Secretary-General for action on online education, removal of systemic barriers and a proactive approach to increase women’s participation and leadership in science and technology to address the imbalance,” it said in a statement to mark the occasion.
According to ASWIM, while “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities; equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome”.
The newspaper says that Ghana exported a total of 31,922 metric tonnes (mt) of fertiliser in 2022 compared to 1,244mt in 2021, the 2022 Fertiliser Trade Statistics have revealed.
The statistics also stated that out of a total of 486,203mt imported last year, 459,513mt were consumed by farmers as compared to 239,062mt and 242,334mt imported and consumed respectively in 2021.
The 2022 Fertiliser Trade Statistics were presented here on Friday at the Fertiliser Technical Working Groups organised by the Africa Fertiliser Initiative of the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC).
Explaining high export rate for 2022, Sales Agronomist at Agricultural Manufacturing Group (AMG) Limited, Emmanuel Nunoo Lartey, said his outfit was expanding towards the neighbouring countries as well as the fertiliser situation in Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali.
He said there were shortage of fertiliser in those countries and also they did not have the raw materials to produce the fertiliser blends, “so they had to fall on us to supply to them.”
Mr Lartey explained that the raw materials were imported and later processed into finished products which were later exported as fertilisers to neighbouring countries.
Some of the exported fertilisers included sodium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and NPK14-23-14.
He was of the view that, if the situation remained the same in those countries the demand for fertiliser would be high this year.
Some of the companies that exported fertilisers in the year under review were, among others, Chemico, Ominifert, AMG and GloFert.
Mr Lartey also attributed the high export rate to the importation of raw materials under free zones, adding that “we are mandated to sell 70 per cent of our total import as export.”
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GIK/APA