The long-awaited message regarding the hardship in the country was at long last delivered by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Sunday.
The President’s speech has attracted comments which themselves deserve attention.
While some have welcomed it with the simple comment that it will calm nerves, others say the speech was long overdue.
We would like to call the President’s attention to these comments because their collective import is that no matter how good your message is, if it does not come at the right time, it does not make the expected impact.
Timely delivery of messages of assurance in crisis times prevents some negative acts.
We believe that if the President had spoken some two months ago, the speculation in the system would have died or slowed down in which case prices of goods, for instance, would not have reached the levels at which they are now.
The sages were not wrong when they said “a stitch in time saves nine.”
Unexpectedly, in an economic crisis moment like what the country finds itself in now, comments about the President’s speech would not be all palatable.
This is natural but it is always good to pay particular attention to them all.
Some people may just want to agree with the President and so would like to reserve certain remarks whereas others may scrutinise and critique his speech.
We think it is better to pay more attention to those comments to see if they are not propaganda but contain merits that can help in resolving the present crisis.
After all, the President and his team are human and so certain things can escape them.
For instance, Professor John Gatsi, Dean of Business School of the University of Cape Coast, says President Akufo-Addo was not clear about the country’s debt restructuring and did not talk about bonds either, a situation that has left doubts in the minds of investors.
He also says the President failed to inform the public about how the country’s fiscal deficit would be reduced to 55 per cent by 2028.
There are others who say the President said nothing at all about their expectations.
They include those who wanted the President to come clear about the sacking of the Finance Minister.
They explain that the IMF negotiation cannot be an excuse to retain the minister just because he is leading the negotiations.
To them, the IMF negotiations are not likely to conclude soon.
Some in that same group wanted to hear the President being specific about how the government would deal with traders over-pricing their goods and drivers cheating passengers by adding their own percentage increments to fares which percentages are more than the 19 approved.
A different group is happy to hear that the President, his Vice and appointees are going to sacrifice 30 percent of their salaries. However, it does not understand why he did not talk about plans to expunge Article 71 from the 1992 Constitution to save the country the huge expenses it incurs on those public officials falling under the article.
The comments and remarks about President Akufo-Addo’s speech would keep coming in for some time and none must be discounted until found to be of no merit.
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