President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will, next week Thursday, February 20, deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament.
This is in accordance with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.
Article 67 states that: “The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the State of the Nation.”
Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, announced this in the Business Statement for the Fourth Week Ending 21st February 2020, of the First Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Seventh Parliament.
He said: “Rt. Hon Speaker, H.E. the President of the Republic is scheduled to deliver a Message on the State of the Nation on Thursday, 20th February, 2020, in accordance with Article 67 of the Constitution.”
Mr Mensah-Bonsu reminded members of the House, as a convention, “to be punctual and accordingly be in the Chamber latest by 09:15 a.m. as it may not be courteous for the Members to enter or exit the Chamber after H.E. the President has entered the House to deliver his address.
“Indeed, it is a breach of protocol,” the Minister cautioned, and advised members not to enter the Chamber with their guests.
The Majority Leader, who is also the Member of Parliament for Suame, informed the House that the ministers responsible for Sanitation and Water Resources and Local Government and Rural Development, earlier programmed to attend upon the House, could not do so for a number of reasons.
He said they would attend upon the House on Tuesday, February 18, to brief it on matters being adopted on the signing of off-taker agreements relating to waste management in the country.
During the week, the Minister of the Volta Region is the expected to answer when the report on the independent probe into the shooting incidents at Alavanyo Dzogbede, which claimed three lives and injured six others, would be published.
Also, the Minister of Youth and Sports would answer whether the Ministry has paid all outstanding bonuses owed the Black Queens, the National Women’s Football Team.
There would also be a question to the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture on “when the Charter for the African Cultural Renaissance, adopted by the African Union in 2006, will be brought to Parliament for ratification.”