President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will on Tuesday account to the people of Ghana on what his administration has achieved just six months into the four-year mandate he secured in the December 7, 2016 elections.
The decision was taken in line with the president’s pledge to be accountable, open and accessible to Ghanaians when he took over the governance of the country in January 7, 2017 from former President John Mahama who lost the elections on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress
Dubbed encounter with the media, the event which will take place at the Flagstaff House in Accra at exactly 12:30pm will see the president address the nation on the successes of his government and the way forward before the media will be given the opportunity to ask questions.
Internal security arising out of some acts of lawlessness and robbery, the rate of borrowing and issuance of bond by his government, alleged corruption, rate of unemployment and labour matters are some of the key issues that are expected to dominate the encounter.
READ: This is how Akufo-Addo will change Ghana in 4 years
Others will be the what has been described as mass dismissal of workers in some state agencies such as the National Youth Employment Agency, National Health Insurance Scheme and the School Feeding Programme.
“He [the President] thinks that this accountability and interaction with the Ghanaian people is a democratic requirement, that as a democratic president, once a while you come back to the people and tell them what it is that you’re doing with the mandate that they gave you,” Information Minister Mustapha Hamid told journalists Monday.
The minister said the President recognises the importance of meeting with the people for ideas, suggestions and also take their criticism which he said would eventually help in shaping the vision of the President for the country.
“He recognises that he is a human being and that he is not perfect and therefore once a while you meet with people, they will give u ideas, they will make suggestions. They will even criticise your policies and so on so that you can take these criticism and suggestions on board and then better fashion our your vision for the development of the country,” he stated.
On why the President Akufo-Addo did not wait for a year before holding the accountability meeting, he said “We thought that one year will be a very long time,” indicating that the President believes in frequent interaction with the people.
Mr Hamid pointed out that Tuesday’s media encounter by the President is not “to engage in self-aggrandizement… that’s not the purpose ”
He will account to the people on what he has done within the six months, which the President believes if continued, would improve the fortunes of the country and help achieve the development goals.
The minister said the President is adequately prepared for tomorrow’s event , saying “Yes, we are very ready. Of course…we know there is no perfect script anywhere but we are polishing up the script and hopefully by tomorrow we will have a near-perfect script”.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter @Steviekgh_TV3