Leadership crisis cause of NDC woes in Parliament – Gyampo
Political Scientist, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has attributed leadership failure and betrayal among the Minority Members of Parliament as reason to the recent disagreements between the caucus and the party.
According to him, the unanimous decision by the Minority side of Parliament to approve Ken Ofori-Atta after the several backlash against him amounts to having a lack of principle, therefore the resignation of North Tongu MP, Okudzeto Ablakwa.
This he says has leveled to the dissatisfaction in the grassroots of the National Democratic Congress who had confidence in their legislators due to the current number of seats held by both sides of the House.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile with host Samson Lardy Anyenini last Saturday, Gyampo said the failure by the minority to manage the expectations of their supporters in view of the composition of the 8th Parliament is the upfront of the whole problem.
“I believe what is going on currently on the side of the Minority in Parliament is some form of leadership failure and betrayal on the side of their representatives of Parliament. We have for the first time of Ghana’s republic had a hung Parliament, whether you like it or not, no matter how you interpret it as is 137 and 137 plus one Independent. Since 1992, it has always been that whoever wins the Presidency wins a large number at Parliament which makes it easy for the Executive arm of government to control but it’s not so in this 8th Parliament so the grassroots expected more fire works from the NDC.
“With their practice now, they communicate differently to the supporters then do something different on the floor of the House. They change their collective disagreements over some appointments in the public domain but later do the opposite without any proper explanation. I have so much of respect for Ablakwa following his resignation from the committee, I’ve spoken to him personally, he told me they agreed to not do ABCD but later did the same thing which was earlier opposed against.”
Unrealistic Resignation
Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Constituency, Inusah Fuseini on the same show however disagreed with Gyampo and further described the resignation of Ablakwa as unconstitutional and against the standing orders of the House.
He explained that, a committee member only stands a chance to exit his/her role unless taken by death.
“Once a person is on the committee unless taken away by death, you have no power within to remove yourself from the committee. The fact that you have written to resign from the committee does not automatically mean that you are not a member of the committee.
“No, you are still a member of the committee until you are discharged. You can’t discharge yourself from the committee, the selection committee must discharge you, and they must discharge you on the floor of Parliament,” he added.
Background
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa last week resigned from the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
He based his reason on “personal reasons”.
His resignation letter indicated that, “This is to formally convey my decision to discontinue my membership of the Appointments Committee after days of careful reflection and thoughtful consideration,
“I shall like to state that the reasons for this is difficult and that the decision is both personal and on principle. Respectfully, my resignation is with immediate effect and therefore I shall not be available for the vetting of the nominees for deputy ministerial positions,”
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