Minority Chief Whip, Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka has described as shocking President Akufo-Addo’s failure to address the recent conflict in Bimbila in his maiden State of the Nation Address on Tuesday.
According to him, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo touched on government’s effort to stabilize the political situation in The Gambia but intentionally left out a local conflict.
“We the members of the minority are really disappointed in the President. He had pressing issues to address during his SONA but failed and rather addressed the political tension in The Gambia. Your own backyard is on fire but you failed to touch on it indirectly telling us that conflicts in Bimbila are not important,” he said.
At least 10 people mostly women were killed as the intractable conflict which resurfaced two weeks ago.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Morning Show “Dwaso Nsem” Thursday, Mr. Muntaka indicated that in as much as people have lost properties, with others relocating, the President should have even spared a thought for Bimbila.
But reacting to the Minority Chief Whip’s claims, majority chief whip, Mr. Ameyaw Kyeremeh on the same show rather blamed the NDC government for doing nothing to curb the violence in the Northern region before leaving power.
“What measures did the NDC put in place when these violence began in the North, This Bimbila issue has been there for so many years but they (NDC) did nothing but have the gut to tell Nana Addo to address it,” he stated.
Mr. Muntaka also accused President Akufo-Addo of doing propaganda on the actual amount of the country’s debt stock.
The debt ratio, he noted depends on the final GDP figures for 2016. If the GDP figures improve the debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to be lower than 74%.
President Akufo-Addo had said that Ghana’s debt has reached unsustainable level with the debt stock standing at an alarming GH¢122 billion as at December 2016 from GH¢9.5 billion in 2009.
“By the end of 2016, the debt stock had ballooned to GH¢122 billion,” the President said adding that this represents 74 percent of the country’s GDP.
But Mr. Muntaka said the president intentionally left out areas like housing and water where the previous government had chalked great successes so that credit would not be given to the NDC government.
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