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President John Dramani Mahama has asked leaders of political parties and political actors in the country to commit to working together for the common good of the people as Ghanaians �demand from us partnership and not partisanship.� Addressing the 5th Parliament of the 4th Republic on the state of nation, President John Mahama stated that politicians should �agree to a multi-partisan process to secure the future of our country� for the long term survival of the nation.� He reminded them that �there had been times when we had shelved the politics and come together as one nation for the glory of Ghana. All of you know and I also believe that it was the right thing to do and it felt good to do so.� �The people of this nation elected us all to work together and we owe them that much. What they demand from us is partnership and not partisanship. They put us all right here in the same canoe, they gave us all paddles and they told us to row this country gently onto the road to recovery of growth and shared prosperity and that is the direction I believe we should take this country,� he added. President Mahama opined that a seeming optimism is seeping into the consciousness of Ghanaians despite obvious challenges and further expressed the believe that �the days of divisions and discord are behind us and that an era of unity and national renewal is before us.� He concluded saying, �despite the challenges we face, the state of our nation is strong but now we must rise to the decisive moment to make this nation and our continent a better place than we have ever known it.� Below are excerpts from the President�s speech Healthcare: In the area of health care President Mahama said �the National Health Insurance Scheme has been strengthened.� �Active memberships of the scheme, utilization, claim payments and other indicators of public confidence have risen very sharply over the last four years.� According to the President the NDC government has worked relentlessly to give individuals and families better access to more quality health care. �Across the country an unprecedented number of modern health care delivery facilities have been rolled out� In the area of training several nursing and midwifery training institutions have been established as well as a university that is dedicated solely to the training of auxiliary health care professionals.� Security: He said within the last four years the security agencies have experienced re-tooling efforts from the government. �This has enabled them to carry out even more effectively their mandate of ensuring our security even by air, land or by sea. The Ghana Police Service has also taken delivery of new high performance vehicles, communication gadgets and other essential equipment.� �The service today can boast of an ultra-modern forensic laboratory which has greatly improved their crime prevention and detection capabilities.� President Mahama said this capability was on full display before, during and after the 2012 general elections. This saw them effectively providing security for all of us. It is clear from the fore going that the NDC Government�s efforts have not been in vain. Energy: He said �government has over the past four years made significant investments in the energy sector. This has culminated in an increase of 35 percent in our energy generation capacity since 2008. Access to electricity has also increased from 54% in 2008 to an average of 72% in 2011.� Education: In the area of education President Mahama stated that the NDC put measures in place and rolled out programmes to address problems in education and remarkable progress has been made. About 40% of schools under trees have been removed and the school feeding programme and capitation grant has also been expanded to benefit more schools. Teachers have been better motivated and have experienced an increase in salaries. This has resulted in some modest improvement in the results being churned out by both at the primary and senior education level. He pledged to pursue investments to increase quality of education n in the country.