The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has urged Members of Parliament to support President Nana Akufo-Addo to do more for Ghanaians and help resolve the many challenges confronting the country.
The Ofoase Ayirebi legislator who led the Majority to debate President Akufo-Addo State of the Nation Address delivered last Thursday said Akufo-Addo has rolled out a number policies and programs that have made Ghana a healthier country.
He indicated that the government intends to undertake more projects that will inure to the benefit of Ghanaians hence requires the support of MPs.
The Minister cited the introduction of Free SHS, the buzzing tourism sector through the well patronized Year of Return concept, investment in the security sector, entrepreneur support, digitization, development in sports and resourcing institutions to fight corruption as some of the gains made by the Akufo-Addo government.
He added that the decision by the government to ensure a clean-up of the financial sector was to avoid a situation of a total meltdown of the sector.
“Over GHS11 billion has been paid out to the customers of banks. Payment for another GHS5 billion is starting for customers of non-banking financial institutions from this week. Deposits of over 4 million Ghanaians have been saved. Robust corporate governance mechanisms have been introduced to forestall a repetition in the sector. Over 7,000 jobs have been saved and our financial sector is healthier today than it was 3 years ago,” he said.
The Minister also assured the House of President Akufo-Addo and his administration’s commitment to continue with the fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
“We haven’t completely won the fight against illegal and irresponsible mining yet. Indeed, the President admits that though some successes have been achieved, challenges remain. Community mining has been introduced after training of thousands of hither-to illegal small scale miners. Today about 20,000 of them are working legally in community mining concessions. At the same time, some are still resuming the practice of irresponsible and illegal mining. As the President mentioned, his commitment is unwavering. The state agencies will clamp down on all these activities,” he added.
Mr. Nkrumah said persons found to be compromising the fight against illegal mining will be dealt with no matter their political colour.
“Already some have been handed over to the police and we all look forward to the police doing a thorough job at investigating and prosecuting.”
Minority abstains from debate
Meanwhile, the members of the Minority caucus on Tuesday abstained from the debate on the President’s address after boycotting it last week.
The caucus after a meeting on Tuesday morning took a decision not to be part of the debate although they took part in other activities of the house on Tuesday.
