SONA 2023: We Have Not Been Reckless In Borrowing & Spending – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has maintained that his administration has not been reckless in borrowing and spending.

Presenting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Wednesday, March 8, the president stressed that money has only been spent on things that his administration considered urgent.

He listed roads, bridges, and schools as part of the government’s massive projects that required urgent attention.

“Considering the amount of work that still needs to be done on the state of our roads, the bridges that have to be built, the classrooms that need to be built, the furniture and equipment needs at all stages of education, considering the number of children who should be in school and are not, considering the number of towns and villages that still do not have access to potable water, I daresay no one can suggest we have over-borrowed or spent recklessly,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo also said that he is proud of the amount of work that his administration has championed so far, especially in the road sector.

“Roads constitute the largest number of questions asked in this House by Members of Parliament; a large amount of the monies we borrow are for road construction. Shall we dare stop constructing roads?” he quizzed.

According to the president, “this Government has built more roads than any government in the history of the 4th Republic”.

“Indeed, the evidence of how state funds have been used to improve our society is all over the country. No district or constituency has been left out. And I believe there are many Ghanaians who will vehemently disagree when some say there is nothing to show for all the funds that have been at my government’s disposal,” he added.

Beyond the construction of roads, the president listed some of the projects his administration has spearheaded:

• Implemented successfully a National Identification System with the Ghana card;

• Constructed more railways than any other government in the Fourth Republic;

• Established the Zongo Development Fund to address the needs of Zongo and inner-city communities; and under their auspices, we have constructed more infrastructure in the Zongo Communities than any other government in the Fourth Republic;

• Constructed more NCA-licensed fibre optic cable than any other government in the fourth republic (93% of total);

• Increased the proportion of the population with access to toilet facilities from 33% to 59%;

• Increased the number of public libraries from 61 in 2017 to 115 in 2022;

• Provided more equipment (vehicles, ammunition, etc) to security services than any other government in the Fourth Republic;

• We have successfully implemented the digital address system;

• Improved significantly the financing of governance and anti-corruption MDAs like the Ministry of Justice and Office of the Attorney General, NCCE, CHRAJ, EOCO, etc.;

• Implemented One District, One Factory Initiative. In four years, 106 companies are in operation under 1D1F. 148 factories under construction. This is the largest expansion of that sector since independence;

• Constructed more fish landing sites than any other government in the Fourth Republic;

• Established Africa’s first national-scale electronic pharmacy platform;

• Provided free Wifi to 700 senior high schools, 46 Colleges of Education, 260 district education offices, and an initial successful pilot of 13 public universities;

• Introduced drones in the delivery of critical medicine, vaccines, and blood to people in remote parts of the country, and today, Ghana has the largest medical drone delivery service in the world with six Zipline Distribution Centres in Omenako, Mpanya, Vobsi, Sefwi Wiawso, Kete Krachi, and Anum; and

• Overseen an improvement in revenue collection, with the introduction of an e-VAT and e-Invoicing System. For example, figures from nineteen (19) taxpaying companies onboarded unto the e-Vat system revealed total recorded monthly sales increasing from GH¢222 million in November 2021 to GH¢720 million in November 2022. Again, in December 2021, total monthly sales of GH¢284 million also saw a huge increase to GH¢1 billion in December 2022.