Hon Cletus Apul Avoka, a former Majority Leader and the current Member of Parliament (MP) for the good people of Zebilla Constituency, has opined that the argument offered by the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, with regards to the reshuffle of the party’s parliamentary leadership, does not hold water.
In the words of Hon Avoka, the justification for the reshuffle is rather unfortunate, as the reshuffle itself would simply serve a diversion from the real topics in the country, i.e. the misdeeds of the Akufo Addo led government.
“Now that this has come, it is going to bring about low morale in Parliament, it’s going to bring about some sort of disaffection and in any case, it’s diversionary.
“In the sense that instead of focusing on the misdeeds of the NPP so that we can rally the people behind us, they’re going to divert attention. Social media and the media will divert attention and for the next one week or two weeks, they will be talking about crisis or conflict in the NDC, rather than the misdeeds of the NPP. That is why I say that it is unfortunate.”
Hon Avoka
The chairman of the biggest opposition party, had among other things disclosed that, one of the major reasons for the reshuffle is to capitalize on the skills set of the new leaders ahead of the 2024 general elections. Mr Aseidu Nketia indicated that the 2024 general elections would largely be based on the economy, energy and infrastructure, hence the reason for selecting economic expert, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, energy expert, Mr Kofi Armah Buah and infrastructure expert, Mr Kwame Agbodza.
Nevertheless, Hon Cletus Avoka supposed that, simply basing the reshuffle on skills set at this crucial time does not bode well for the party. He asserted that, the three new leaders were already contributing immensely to the party by serving on parliamentary committees, so there was no need to foist party leadership on them.
“If we say that because Ato Forson has economic background and therefore the 2024 elections will be fought on an economic basis, admitted, that is so. But he doesn’t need to be a leader. He’s a ranking member of the Finance Committee, and he has been doing that work creditably in support of other members of parliament. And he has been doing this for the past six years not just today.
“So I don’t think that it’s the last two years that will let our leader in parliament be somebody with an economic background and therefore that will give us a sway. No. Then if that is the argument, then the presidential candidate should also be an economist. If that is the argument and you’re going to present a flagbearer, then he must be an economist.”
Hin Avoka
The lawmaker further opined that “The next flagbearer will need to have an economist as a minister of finance who can advise him and then have an economic management team. So I don’t think that the fact that Ato Forson has an economic background and Haruna Iddrisu may not have it, that calls for Haruna’s change. That is not a good reason.”
Nobody Owns Any Position In Any Party
Meanwhile, Dr. Kwame Asah Asante, a Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, has called on the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress parliamentary caucus to throw their support behind their new leaders.
To him, the members of parliament should not lose focus on their main goal i.e. to unseat the NPP-led government in the 2024 elections, by unnecessarily concentrating on the reshuffle.
Dr Asante explained that the decision as to who leads the party in parliament has often laid in the bossom of the party’s national executives hence impromptu changes geared at achieving the main goal of the party should be supported regardless of the level of discomfort.
“Nobody owns any position in any party. At a point in time, the party decides who should lead. People came and occupied this position, in the same manner people will leave. So when there is change, even though I admit that consensus is critical that the decision that they took without informing members of parliament in unfortunate, but that aside, we should remember that the party has business, and it’s business is that they want to do everything possible to wrestle power from the NPP.
“So if that is the goal, all of them, unless of course their views are at variance with that of the party but that is not what I’m thinking. I believe that they are also fighting for a common goal of winning power, then they must put their act together and support those within office for positive agenda in 2024.”
Dr Asante
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