Former President John Dramani Mahama, Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), was among the high-profile personalities present in Parliament for the presentation of the penultimate State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution imposes an obligation on Members of Parliament (MPs), the Speaker and the Judiciary to receive the President’s Message on the State of the Nation.
The President was received into the Chamber of the House by Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, together with Mr Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business and Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader.
The list of dignitaries at the event include the First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo; Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and his wife, Hajia Samira, Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo.
Others are Nana Otuo Siriboe II, the Chairman of the Council of State; former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, Dr Margarete Amoakohene, Member of the Council of State, and the wife of the Speaker of Parliament, Madam Alice Adjoa Yornas.
The rest are former Speaker Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye; Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, the Chief of Staff, Mr Stephen Ayesu Ntim, the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong, NPP General Secretary; Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the National Chairman, NDC, and Mr Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, General Secretary, NDC.
Major General Thomas Oppong-Peprah, the Chief of Defence Staff, Ghana Armed Forces, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General of Police, and Mr Charles Abani, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana are all present.
Source: GNA