The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has provided a fresh justification for changing its parliamentary leadership.
According to Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the party’s national chairman, the previous parliamentary leadership had trouble getting along with Speaker Alban Bagbin.
According to him, these challenges ought not to have existed in the first place since the party “struggled” to get the Speaker elected.
Speaking at a press conference in the UK over the past weekend, the NDC Chairman said the obstacles prevented the party from fully utilizing its elected speaker.
“Why did we struggle to get an NDC person elected as a Speaker of Parliament? There are certainly some advantages and those advantages can be tapped into when your leadership is cooperating with the Speaker.
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“So we cannot have a situation where NPP leadership is cooperating with the Speaker, and our NDC leadership has challenges cooperating with the Speaker.”
“And 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’m not about to resign,” Mr Asiedu Nketiah said.
On January 24, the party submitted a petition to the Speaker of the House requesting a change in its parliamentary leadership.
The Party contends that the choice is in everyone’s best interests.
Per the changes, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has taken over from Haruna Iddrisu as the new Minority Leader. Ellembelle MP, Kofi Armah Boah will replace James Klutse Avedzi as Deputy Minority Leader.
Kwame Agbodza becomes the Chief Whip for the opposition side and will be deputised by Banda MP, Ahmed Ibrahim and Ada legislator, Comfort Doyo Ghansah respectively.
However, some NDC legislators expressed their opposition to the decision describing the development as a “coup d’etat” and questioning the rationale behind the change.
But the Council of Elders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the aggrieved members to remain calm.
The council claims that they are acting quickly to resolve complaints and a petition from the MPs who are upset about the change.
This information was contained in a press release issued and signed by the Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu on January 28, 2023.
In the press statement, the Council of Elders acknowledged “receipt of a petition from some members of the NDC Parliamentary caucus regarding recent appointments to leadership positions.”
Source: Myjoyonline