The Council of Elders of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has once again stepped into the crisis created by the reshuffle of the minority leadership side of Parliament sparking an intraparty war of words between the north and the south caucuses of the party which claims united and ready to oust the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Ahead of a meeting schedule for tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the Council, urged the aggrieved MPs and the party leadership at all levels and all concerned persons to refrain from further public pronouncements on the appointment of new party leaders in Parliament, saying “this is a time to be circumspect in order not to play into the hands of our detractors”.
Interestingly, this is the second time the NDC Council of Elders, will make an attempt to broker peace as stalwart of that body namely its chairman, the respected Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama and the venerable Ato Ahwoi had ahead of the reshuffle met with the then Minority Whip, Muntaka Mubarak and the ex-Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, individually.
This casts doubts on Muntaka Mubarak’s denial that neither he nor Haruna Iddrisu, was engaged ahead of the replacement which has brought in Dr Cassiel Ato Forson of the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency in the Central Region as the new Minority Leader to be assisted by Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah as Deputy Minority Leader.
The party, had tasked Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama and Ato Ahwoi to meet and speak with Muntaka Mubarak and Haruna Iddrisu, about their replacement which has since gotten the likes of Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed of Tamale Central Constituency, Cletus Apul Avoka of the Zebilla East constituency in the Upper East region, MP for Bolgatanga East, Dominic Ayine and several others from the northern part of the country up in arms against the party executives, especially the NDC General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey and the National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah.
The development, has also seen the NDC’s Volta Regional executives declaring support for the action of the NDC national executives for the reshuffle, having seen their counterparts in the Northern Region unhappy with the decision and storming their party’s office in support of Haruna Iddrisu.
The Western Regional branch of the NDC, has also congratulated Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle, on his new role as Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, while the chiefs and residents in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam Constituency, have jubilated over the appointment of Dr Ato Forson, as Minority Leader.
What is equally intriguing is that, both Muntaka Mubarak and Haruna Iddrisu, have been aware of the reshuffle long before it happened
. Aside it being signaled in March 2021 by the then General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, as at last year, the new names had been ready, but neither Mr Asiedu Nketiah, nor the then National Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, was ready to sign and announce it, afraid it will cost them the NDC national chairmanship position which they were both fighting for.
But additional information available to The Herald is that the list had changed several times. The initial list was to have Haruna Iddrisu retain his position as Minority Leader, but James Avedzi replaced by Ato Forson as Deputy Minority Leader with Armah-Kofi Buah replacing Muntaka Mubarak, but this later changed with Haruna Iddrisu kicked out, and claims are that it is because he had campaigned against Mr Asiedu Nketiah’s chairmanship bid, as well as Fifi Kwetey’s General Secretary ambition.
Other report from the NDC is that, Haruna Iddrisu is angry because Ahmed Ibrahim of the Banda Constituency in the Bono Region, had been kept as the Deputy Minority Chief Whip, because he is seen as a loyalist of Mr Asiedu Nketiah.
Ahead of last December’s National Delegates’ Conference, Ahmed had declared his support for Mr Asiedu Nketiah, saying he was speaking on behalf of the NDC MPs but a counter statement came from Haruna Iddrisu and others, distancing themselves from the statement. Ahmed’s retention of the Minority Leadership is seen as a reward to him, while Haruna sees his removal as punishment for not supporting Fifi and Asiedu Nketiah
In a statement released on Saturday, the NDC elders in acknowledging receipt of a petition from some members of the NDC Parliamentary caucus regarding recent appointments to leadership positions, said “the Council has initiated steps to act expeditiously on the petition and related matters”.
“While this process is underway, the Council urges our Honourable Members of Parliament, Party leadership at all levels and all concerned persons to refrain from further public pronouncements on the matter in the larger interest of our great NDC. This is a time to be circumspect in order not to play into the hands of our detractors”, the statement said.
Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, the Council chairman, who signed the statement assured “the rank and file of the Party of an early and principled resolution of the issues and ultimately, the NDC will emerge stronger and more united”, and urged “all members of the NDC to re-dedicate themselves to working for victory in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2024, to alleviate the suffering of the Ghanaian people”.
One of the petitioners, the MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has taken a swipe at the national executives of the NDC, saying they rushed to announce changes in the Minority leadership.
Mr Ayariga, together with some other MPs signed a petition to reject the decision of the party, and speaking on the The Big Issue on Citi TV/Citi FM on Saturday, Mr Ayariga described the move by the national executives as ‘wrong’, asking why the executives engaged in media interviews when some of the Minority caucus were not aware of the changes.
He said the national executives faulted by publicly announcing the changes without proper consultations with the MPs and the outgoing Minority leadership.
“I also feel that our leaders who have done this [change], thus the National Chairman and the General Secretary should have spoken to us first. Those who jumped the steps on TV and radio etc, some of us have our reservations about that conduct. I also have reservations about our National Chairman also going on that tangent”.
“I believe that our National Chairman should have spoken to us first. I don’t believe that the first of action was to speak to the country. The sequencing of the communication was wrong. Some of us are not happy about the way our new leaders conducted themselves, which is to speak to the media first, before speaking to the people that they are going to lead.
Those who went to the media to protest too are wrong. Ato Forson talking in the media was a wrong move,” the MP said.
The legislator believes that the outgoing Minority leadership was treated unfairly, adding that some of them received the news under a very embarrassing circumstance.
“The grievances of some of our MPs is that, some of our colleagues got to know about the removal under very embarrassing circumstances. Take Avedzi for instance, I’m told he was at a conference in Southern Africa and in the middle of the presentation he received a message, that he’s no longer the deputy leader. The communication and how it went is an issue for some of the MPs and not because they are against the decision but how it went,” Mr. Ayariga said.
The disappointed lawmaker opined that the political careers of Haruna Iddrisu and Muntaka shouldn’t be toyed with adding that they should have been communicated through a proper channel.
“We are dealing with human beings and careers. How will people perceive our Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and our Chief Whip, Muntaka. Mubarak? These are people we have worked with, in my case more than a decade. And to wake up one early morning to hear that they have been removed, I will be sympathetic,” he explained.
The MP for Bawku admitted that the reshuffle was not managed well by both the national executives and the petitioners.
“Yes it has happened but after that, we are all not managing it well. Those of us challenging it, I don’t believe that press conferences and others are the proper forum for challenging your party because party discipline and cohesiveness is important. Both the petitioners and national executives faulted,” he admitted.
Mahama Ayariga, defended the petition and explained that the petition is not against the decision by the national executives but to evoke a conversation among party members in future appointments by the national leadership.
“The objective of the petition is to evoke a conversation or discussion for us to have an understanding. I believe that those whose names are there are not necessarily against the decision of the national executives. We all joined the rank and file of the party to elect them as our leaders. The last thing we will do is to undermine their authority,” he clarified.
The legislator argued that though the party’s constitution does not explicitly state the rules and guidelines for the selection of leadership for the minority caucus, the national hierarchy could have consulted the MPs.
The Bawku Central MP, said though the petitioners don’t stand on any legal basis and their petition lacks clarity, their views could have been sought, adding that the emotions of the outgoing leadership and that of party members should have been taken into consideration before the decision by the national executives.
He noted that he does not bear grudges against the new minority leadership, insisting that proper engagements could have been carried out.
“My name is among the list that petitioned the Council of Elders. The petitioners are raising a number of issues. As a lawyer, I believe that those issues really lack some clarity. The petition is fundamentally raising a question of consultation. We are not against the appointments. We are simply saying that in a matter like this about our welfare, you would have engaged us also. They are saying they haven’t been consulted, I was out of the country, but the wider caucus was not consulted.”
“As a lawyer, I know that there is no clarity in the matter of what we are demanding, because there’s nowhere in our standing order, rules or constitution which indicates that when the party is going to designate leaders, it must consult members of its caucus… There’s no precedent and our rules are not clear, this is a novel situation. We don’t stand on any legal basis, but we are humans with feelings, we could have been consulted,” Mr Ayariga noted.
The legislator opined that the unnecessary media banter could have been avoided, and called on his colleague MPs to go by the advice of the Council of Elders and cease-fire.
“Those of us who petitioned and those on radio defending the decision, we have all faulted, let’s all ceasefire and give the Council of Elders the platform to resolve the issue,” he advised.
