The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has referred to a scripture in the Bible as a way of congratulating the old leadership of the Minority caucus in parliament.
The new leadership, led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, who took over from Haruna Iddrisu as the Minority Leader, was welcomed by the Speaker after he announced to the House that he had received the correspondence from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) leadership.
In welcoming them, Alban Bagbin told the new leaders that they have come to the ‘hot seat.’
“On behalf of the House, and on my part, I warmly welcome them to the hot seat of the leadership of parliament; and I want to emphasise, hot seat of the leadership of parliament.”
Alban Babgin
He referred to the famous scripture in Psalm 23 while addressing the former leadership, led by Haruna Iddrisu.
“All I can say to the former leaders is, the Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want. When one door closes, many doors open, and I can tell you for sure that many of the open doors are better and higher than the closed door. Look at the open doors, and not the close.”
Alban Babgin
The new leaders of the Minority in Parliament aside Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, include Emmanuel Armarh Kofi Buah, as Deputy Minority Leader; and Kwame Agbodza as Minority Chief Whip.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson Speaks For The First Time In Parliament As Minority Leader
Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, made an official statement before the house as the minority leader since he joined parliament in 2009.
He thanked the party and his colleagues for allowing him serve and also commended Haruna Iddrisu for his distinguished public service since 2017.
“On January 7, 2009, I took the first step in this very chamber towards becoming a representative for the people of Ajumako Enyan Essiam and contributing my quota to Ghana’s parliamentary democracy. Fourteen years on, from a fresh legislator, I have the unique honour of being entrusted with the leadership of the Minority Caucus in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic.”
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson
Dr. Ato Forson conveyed his profound gratitude to his party, the National Democratic Congress, and his colleagues on the minority side for this opportunity to serve at an even higher level and help shape the trajectory of this Parliament. He said, “I want to express, on behalf of my colleagues, our profound appreciation and thanks to the immediate past Minority Leader and my senior brother, the Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, for his many years of distinguished public service and his sterling leadership of the Caucus since 2017.”
He added that the caucus remains firm, resolute, and principled in its journey to discharge oversight duties.
“Both Haruna Iddrisu has been the very backbone on which the Minority Caucus has leaned all these years. His masterful perspectives on the affairs of this house have enhanced the work of the caucus and Parliament as a whole. We in the minority are privileged to have you in our caucus. To you my colleagues in the Minority Caucus, we pledge to offer fair and unbiased, balanced, consultative, and principled leadership in our journey to broaden the frontiers of Parliamentary oversight and hold the Akufo-Addo & Alhaji Bawumia government to account in a manner that helps deliver public goods.”
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson
He claimed to be confident and that he could muster that, the minority side means business and is up to the task.
“We are simply unwilling to countenance any more bad governance, and we will insist on the highest levels of performance from all government officials and institutions over whom this Parliament has oversight and jurisdiction. We are unwilling to be part of any negligence of duty of any sort, and neither shall we tolerate any lackadaisical attitude towards the work of this house by public officials. We will maintain the highest levels of vigilance and offer intense scrutiny of government programs, policies, agreements, bills, and legislative instrument.”
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson
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