Supreme Court may unanimously rule 2022 SONA as unconstitutional – Adongo teases

Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, has teased President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the continuous delay in delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

According to him, Akufo-Addo is afraid to address the nation after putting the country into economic misery.

In a post on his social media handle, Mr. Adongo indicated that the President can opt to deliver the SONA via popular virtual platform ‘Zoom,’ however Ghanaians already know what the state of the nation is.

Addressing the issue of the delay for the 2022 SONA, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee said the Supreme Court may unanimously rule that the president has not breached the law with the delay.

“If Nana Addo and Bawumia are afraid to tell us the state of the mess they have put the economy in, Nana Addo can deliver the message of the state of the nation by Zoom. Ghanaians already know the state of the nation Wai.

“Like E-levy this one too turn tomorrow tomorrow next. Let your man file for interpretation from the SC. They may unanimously rule that the message of the state of the nation is unconstitutional for 2022 per the spirit and letter of the constitution,” Mr. Adongo posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Mr. Habib Iddrisu, in a recent interview explained that the Constitution mandates the president to deliver the SONA between the beginning and dissolution of a session of Parliament.

He stressed that the President has not gone contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.

“The President is within the law. If you look at the constitution in Article 67, it says the president shall at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before the dissolution of Parliament.

“It is not the fact that the president has breached any constitutional provisions in terms of the delivery of the State of the Nation address. I like to put it on record that I am the chairman of the President’s State of the Nation Address committee in Parliament.

“I chair that committee. The last time that we had a meeting, we had agreed that the President was going to deliver the State of the Nations Address on the 3rd of March but due to further consultations, we realized that the 6th march which is the Independence Day of Ghana was also of a very important day to the Republic.

“So doing a state of the nation address or the message on the state of them nations on the 3rd [of March] and then on the 6th [of March] also doing the 6th march was something which was not good,” Mr. Habib Iddrisu said.

The Tolon MP stated that “when the President deems it fit and within the law, he will address the nation”.

Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin on Friday, February 25 told Parliament that the President will no longer be in the House on Thursday, March 3 to deliver the SONA as earlier advertised.

“This indicative date has, however, been put on ice by us and we would duly communicate a new date to the House after we have engaged the presidency,” the Effutu MP stated.