Mr Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, says the President is ready to present the State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the Parliament.
He noted that it was up to the Speaker and the Leadership of the House to work together in fixing a date for the President to come and deliver the SONA to the House.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said this on the floor of Parliament in his response to a question by Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Member of Parliament for Ellembele, on when the President would deliver the SONA.
“Our duty as a House is to programme Mr President to come. It is not Mr President who is refusing to come. He is ready. Mr President is ready. It is for Leadership and Mr Speaker to programme Mr President. Mr Speaker is unavoidably absent. He is not in the jurisdiction. We are talking about the Speaker. The Speaker. The Speaker. I never said a Speaker.”
“So, Mr Speaker, the Speaker and the Leadership will agree and programme Mr President to come and deliver a message of the State of the Nation. That will be done.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin reiterated that it was not the President who had delayed in coming to the House to deliver the SONA; saying “It is the duty of the Speaker to invite him. So, don’t say the President has delayed”.
The State of the Nation is an annual address given to Parliament by the President in conformity with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana imposes an obligation on MPs, the Speaker and the Judiciary to receive the President’s message on the State of the Nation.
Ashantibiz
