Several residents in Sunyani on Wednesday reacted negatively to the State of the Nation’s Address (SONA) presented to Parliament by President Akufo-Addo.

President Akufo-Addo presented the SONA to Parliament on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, in accordance with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution.

The President's message highlighted achievements of his government, some key policies and objectives and offered strategies intending to improve and stabilize the economy.

But, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), some residents said the SONA did not meet their expectations, saying “we anticipated something better than what the President presented”.

“The 2024 SONA was just an old story”, Mr Kwasi Addai Siaw, a businessman stated, saying “the current economic hardship in the country is too much to bear”.

“In fact, the high cost of living coupled with high taxes is making life unbearable and uncomfortable to the ordinary citizens and we expected the President's message to dwell much on realistic measures aimed at alleviating the plight of the citizen”, he stated.

In his view, Mr Siaw said the country ought to shift from borrowing to make and invest more into the local industries and entrepreneurship because we don’t borrow to consume, instead to invest”.

Madam Josephine Anane, a teacher called on the government to build a standard sports stadium in the Bono region, saying “the astro-turf pitches they are constructing can’t serve the purpose of sports development in our region”.

“Our region is still under-developed, and we expected the President's message to highlight the modalities to bring the development at the regional and community levels to the next level,” Mr Kwaku Gyasi, a trader at the Sunyani Central Business District indicated.

For Mr Nurudeen Wahab, another businessman, the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi had contributed to increase in prices of goods and services, saying the nation needed long-term stabilization of the Ghana cedi.