Several days after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) changed the Minority’s leadership in Parliament, party members have reacted in different ways, with some Minority MPs urging the party leadership to rethink their choice.
While some believe the changes will energize the party in advance of the 2024 elections, others believe the timing was off because the outgoing leadership had exceeded expectations and deserved to be kept in place.
Last Tuesday, the party announced changes to the Minority Caucus leadership, replacing Haruna Iddrisu as Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi as Deputy Minority Leader, and Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka as Minority Chief Whip with Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Kwame Governs Agbodza, and Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah.
Before being promoted, Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah and Mr. Agbodza held the positions of Ranking Members of the Trade and Industry and Highways committees, respectively, and Dr. Forson held the position of Ranking Member on the Finance Committee.
Former Minority Leader Cletus Avoka told the Daily Graphic that, considering the critical date of the 2024 general election, the party’s national leadership should reconsider its decision to alter the party’s leadership in Parliament.
“This will be a fine arrangement,” the former Minority Leader remarked, saying that the newly suggested leaders should renounce their nominations in order to create collaboration among Minority MPs.
“It will be sad if they do not listen to this advice, and if that happens, I can see the Minority Caucus not necessarily being fragmented, but some of them being disillusioned that you will never be able to get the most out of them again.”
“The discipline may not be the same like the method we used to have where Chief Whip can have unlimited control over members and this is something we must attempt to prevent.
Mr. Avoka expressed concern that if the national executive rejected his proposal, “my fear is that the unity of purpose we used to have as opposition may not be as strong as it is now.”
The explanation of the Chairman
In an interview with the Daily Graphic hours after the announcement, the party’s National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, stated that the move was part of the party’s “reorganization” for the 2024 general election.
According to him, there had been a succession of changes at all levels of the party in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah stated that after branch elections, constituency elections, regional elections, and national elections, it was now time to present new faces to the party’s frontline in Parliament, hence the change. In his opinion, the time is ideal.
Unpopular choice
According to Mohammed Fugu, who is reporting from Tamale, the Tamale South Constituency Chairman of the NDC, Rauf Sumani, has termed the changes in Parliament leadership as shocking and unpopular.
“We have never witnessed anything like this since 1992, we do not comprehend. Why do they wish to destabilize Haruna Iddrisu? The most important message we want to convey to the party’s national chairman and general secretary is that the choice is bad. This is unknown to anyone. This was only done by the party’s leadership. “Within 24 hours, the judgment should be reversed,” he raged.
A group calling themselves Concerned Dagbon Youth has also accused the leadership of the NDC of indulging “in tribal manoeuvres which will affect not only the immediate past Minority Leader but also the party”.
According to the group, the modifications were motivated by tribal emotions and would have an impact on the NDC’s chances.