The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has given yet another reason for which the party reshuffled its leadership in Parliament.
Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, having earlier defended the decision to enable changes amid backlashes from some Members of Parliament; widely held by the Minority in Parliament, the former party General Secretary revealed at a party gathering in London that a key reason was the lack of understanding between the outgone leadership and Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament.
The NDC National Chairman explained that there was no reason to fight in order to elect a Speaker of Parliament from the party, and yet turn around to give the Speaker of Parliament problems in the end. He stated that this was happening at a time that even the Majority Caucus maintained a cordial relationship with the Speaker of Parliament.
“My priorities in Parliament, is to see our parliamentary caucus working together and also cooperating with the Speaker of Parliament. Why then did we struggle to get an NDC person elected as the Speaker of Parliament?”, said the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress.
“There are certainly some advantages, and those advantages can be tapped into when your leadership is cooperating with the Speaker. So, we cannot have a situation where the New Patriotic Party’s leadership is cooperating with the Speaker while our leadership; the NDC has challenges in cooperating with the Speaker.
“If you are given a party whose leadership in Parliament is not working together, what will you do? You make the changes or you resign and I am not ready to resign.”
Asiedu Nketiah
Asiedu Nketiah made these statements while he accompanied the Former President John Dramani Mahama for a public lecture engagement at Chatham House. General Mosquito, as he is normally referred to, again made an assertion that the NDC party held consultations contrary to the views and opinions out there, but that it was the national executives who eventually took the decision because they are clothed with the capacity to do so.
Alban Begbin Exchanges Words With Muntaka
The Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Alban Bagbin has routinely gotten into heated exchanges especially with Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka, who incidentally was very influential in the processes that led to the election of Bagbin into office on the morning of January 7, 2021.
Bagbin had cause to ‘threaten’ Muntaka in November 2022 when they clashed over the procedures Bagbin wanted to adopt in a Censorship Motion brought by the Minority against Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
Muntaka during proceedings on November 11, vehemently disagreed with Alban Bagbin’s decision to refer the censorship motion to a committee, interrupting him a number of times much to Bagbin’s chagrin.
“Mr. Speaker, I come to second the motion with the clear indication that any attempt to move this matter to a committee will be a travesty of justice done to the chamber of this House.”
Muntaka Ibrahim
Alban Bagbin did not take these interruptions easy and took them to heart in an upsetting manner. To him, it seemed that Muntaka Ibrahim was trying to get on his nerves and as such Bagbin decided to entertain him, for it takes two to tango.
“Hon. Members, I direct that all that the Minority Chief Whip has said after I have told him to withdraw and apologize, be expunged from the records. I so direct. Hansard expunge everything from the record. Minority Chief Whip, you’ll have a difficulty in catching my eye again.”
Alban Babgin
From this dialogue between The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin and Muntaka Ibrahim, it is right to assume that Asiedu Nketiah took note of this and engaged the upper echelon on the change in Leadership in the Minority Caucus in parliament.
READ ALSO: Produce NEC, FEC Minutes That Approved Your Appointment – Asiedu Nketiah To Muntaka
