The Minister for Information and MP for Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has urged his colleague MPs and Ghanaians to support President Akufo-Addo to do more in resolving the challenges confronting the nation.

Mr Nkrumah, who was leading the majority side in the debate on the State of the Nation Address in Accra yesterday said President Akufo-Addo's achievements and interventions so far do not only make Ghana a healthier nation across various sectors but also a bold and compelling vision to look to.

The Minister catalogued the impressive gains under the Akufo-Addo administration, which includes growth in agriculture, the introduction of Free SHS, the buzzing tourism sector through the well-patronised Year of Return concept, investment in the security sector, entrepreneur support, digitisation, development in sports, and resourcing institutions to fight corruption.

On the financial sector clean-up, Mr Nkrumah stressed on the importance of the exercise since the contagion effect could have literally consumed Ghana's entire financial sector.

"Today, over 11 billion has been paid out to the customers of banks. Payment for another 5 billion is starting for customers of non-banking financial institutions from this week. Deposits of over 4 million Ghanaians have been saved. Robust corporate governance mechanisms have been introduced to forestall a repetition in the sector. Over 7,000 jobs have been saved and our financial sector is healthier today than it was three years ago," he said.

The Minister also assured the house of President Akufo-Addo and his administration's commitment to continue with the fight against illegal mining popularly, known as galamsey.

"We haven't completely won the fight against illegal and irresponsible mining yet. Indeed, the President admits that though some successes have been achieved, challenges remain. Community mining has been introduced after training of thousands of hitherto illegal small-scale miners. Today, about 20,000 of them are working legally in community mining concessions. At the same time some are still resuming the practice of irresponsible and illegal mining. As the President mentioned his commitment is unwavering. The state agencies will clamp down on all these activities," he added.

Mr Nkrumah said persons found to be compromising the fight will be dealt with no matter their political colour.

"Already, some have been handed over to the police and we all look forward to the police doing a thorough job at investigating and prosecuting."
Minority MPs abstained from the debate following their initial walkout during the President's presentation last Thursday.