The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bekwai, Ralph Poku-Adusei, has criticised President John Dramani Mahama’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), describing it as more of a “public lecture” than a substantive account of the government’s performance.
In his reaction to the address delivered in Parliament on Friday, February 27, 2026, the Bekwai legislator questioned both the duration and content of the President’s presentation, which lasted two and a half hours.
“The government has been in office for just one year, and it has taken two and a half hours to deliver a State of the Nation Address,” Mr. Poku-Adusei said.
“What does that tell you? It tells me that you are giving a public lecture because there is virtually nothing concrete that you have done.”
The MP specifically challenged the government’s claims of achieving fiscal discipline and positive macroeconomic indicators, such as declining inflation and relative stability of the cedi against the dollar.
While he acknowledged that these metrics might look favourable on paper, he argued that they have failed to deliver meaningful improvements to the lives of ordinary Ghanaians.
“You talk about fiscal discipline. You talk about inflation coming down. You talk about the cedi appreciating against the dollar. But these are theories,” he stated.
“Does that put food on the table of cocoa farmers who have not been paid? Does it put a roof over the head of the common Ghanaian?” he questioned.
Mr. Poku-Adusei pointed to what he described as the government’s reluctance to spend as a key factor stifling economic activity and exacerbating hardship.
“The government is simply not spending, and that is affecting you and it is affecting me,” he said.
“Until government spending stimulates the economy, nothing comes into your pocket. If you are not spending and at the same time you are bringing inflation down and stabilising the currency, then clearly you are imposing untold hardship on ordinary citizens,” he added.
He further highlighted alleged delays in payments to cocoa farmers and job losses among the youth, insisting that fiscal prudence should not come at the expense of people’s livelihoods.
“You cannot score marks for fiscal discipline when ordinary Ghanaians are suffering — when cocoa farmers are not being paid, when young people are being laid off, and when many families do not have money to buy food,” the MP added.
While conceding that the President outlined various policy intentions and reiterated manifesto promises, Mr. Poku-Adusei maintained that there was little evidence of successful implementation after one year in office.
“What we heard was largely a repetition of manifesto promises — what the government intends to do,” he said.
“We will pray for the government to succeed. But as it stands now, the true state of the nation is that the government has not been able to execute any of its major policy promises successfully,” he added.