The Council of Elders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) today, Tuesday, January 31, 2023, met with some of the party’s Members of Parliament (MP) who signed a petition against their national executives in relation to the reshuffle of the minority leadership.
The reshuffle, had seen the replacement of the Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu with the Ajumako Enyan Essiam MP, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson as Minority Leader after a six-year tenure.
The meeting took place at the East Legon residence of the Chairman of the Council of Elders, Alhaji Mahama Idrissu, in Accra.
Absent from the meeting were Haruna Iddrisu and Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, the MP for Asawase in the Ashanti Region. It is not clear, if they were invited to the meeting.
The NDC National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah and Fifi Kwetey, the party’s General Secretary, were also absent.
Details of the discussion are not yet out, and The Herald is working the lines to get information on the nature of the discussion.
Senior NDC party members who were present at the meeting, included Prof. Kwamina Ahwoi, ex-Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adzaho, ex-National Security Minister, Kofi Totobi Quarkye, ex-National Security Co-ordinator, Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Alhaji Hudu Yahaya, Dan Abodakpui, Ato Dadzi, Kwame Peprah among others.
On the petitioners’ side were; Collins Dauda, Cletus Avorko, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, Kwabena Donkor, BT Baba among others.
The case of the petitioners, had been that as MPs, they were not consulted ahead of the change of their leadership.
But reports available to The Herald had been that Haruna Iddrisu and Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, were separately met by Ato Ahwoi and Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, and informed about the change. They had been mute about the meetings, allowing lack of consultation to fester and split the party.
The petitioners, some of whom called the new leaders as “nonentities”, had argued against the change in the petition, saying they needed Haruna Iddrisu and Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, as leaders, because Akufo-Addo government was bringing back the Agyapa Royalty deal, as well as the 3 billion IMF loan bailout.
The petitioners had also talked about the Electoral Commission bringing before Parliament a CI, and needs Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka and Haruna Iddrisu as their leaders.
Meanwhile, Mr Asiedu Nketiah, who once again spoke about the change, said in London where he is on a trip with ex-President John Mahama, that his priorities as national chairman of the NDC was to see the NDC parliamentary caucus working together and also cooperating with the Speaker of Parliament.
“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. So we cannot have a situation where NPP leadership is cooperating with the Speaker, and our NDC leadership have challenges cooperating with the Speaker.”
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said, “those who are claiming that nobody had been consulted, I want to tell them that this is one of the most, the decisions over which there have been the most consultative process, everybody who needed to be consulted was consulted.”
“But the decision is our decision, the decision cannot be the decision of people who were consulted, I hope that is clear.”
“If you have the responsibility of taking a decision, you take your decision after the consultation, so don’t go blaming those people you have consulted, because each of them will give you their views and then you sit down to synthesize the views and then your decision may reflect some of the wishes of some of the people who gave the advice, but eventually it becomes to your decision.
“The suggestions are mere raw materials for the decision but the final product is your work.”
“And so as a leader, I take full responsibility for the decision, and I don’t want anybody to blame anybody at all for that decision, I take full responsibility for the decision,” Mr Asiedu Nketiah said.
Why did we struggle to get an NDC Speaker? –
Mr Asiedu Nketiah said his priorities as national chairman of the NDC was to see the NDC parliamentary caucus working together and also cooperating with the Speaker of Parliament.
“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. So we cannot have a situation where NPP leadership is cooperating with the Speaker, and our NDC leadership have 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.
“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 in his justification for the reshuffle.
More to come!
