The MP for North Tongu, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called the controversy surrounding the leadership transition in the minority caucus a pointless diversion.
According to him, the focus of the National Democratic Congress and its MPs should be on helping find solutions to the numerous challenges the people of Ghana are facing.
Ablakwa said that the issue surrounding the change in the minority leadership has overshadowed important national issues including the debt exchange programme and corruption allegations in the government’s COVID-19 expenditure, as well as the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.
“If you look at the current situation in our country, we are in a very turbulent chaotic time. We are really in crisis and we see what is happening with the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, where so many people have been forced to take haircuts… we have an avalanche of corruption reports, look at the Auditor Generals’ Report on COVID-19, look at our own exposé.
“The Ghanaian people expect us to be focused on those matters, to offer leadership, to be their voice because that is why they sent us to Parliament.
“So, the point I am making is that, this is a needless distraction,” the MP said in a JoyNews interview monitored by GhanaWeb, on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
Ablakwa, therefore, called on his colleague National Democratic Congress MPs to finalize the matter on their leadership and move on to national issues.
“So, some of us have been urging colleagues that we have to quickly close ranks, deal with this matter expeditiously and move on to the national issues,” he added.
The change in the leadership of the minority caucus of Parliament has led to some confusion in the NDC, with some members of the party, including some Members of Parliament, saying that the party’s parliamentarians should have been consulted before the move.
The NDC leadership has appointed the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, as the minority leader in the 8th Parliament of Ghana’s Fourth Republic. He replaced the MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu.
According to the NDC, Kofi Armah Buah, MP for Ellembele, will take over as the Deputy Minority Leader.
While Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP for Adaklu, will replace Asawase MP Muntaka Mohammed as the Chief Whip.
Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, has been maintained as the First Deputy Minority Whip, while Comfort Doyo Cudjoe-Ghansah, MP for Ada, is the Second Deputy Minority Whip.
Some MPs of the party have petitioned its National Executive Committee (NEC) to suspend the appointment of the new leadership of the party in Parliament.
The NDC MPs, including Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka (MP for Asawase), Dominic Ayine (MP for Bolgatanga East), and Cletus Avoka (MP for Zebilla), who are calling for the suspension, argue that the appointment was not made by any of the party’s decision-making structures but was imposed by just a few people.