Fight in NDC over Supreme Court ruling, ministerial vetting

Two separate events in the last forty-eight hours have thrown the opposition National Democratic Congress into disarray with leading figures and supporters doing what can best be described as the blame game.

The first incident considered a defeat by the National Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi is the margin of defeat in the voting on the recommendations of the Appointments Committee of Parliament on three ministerial nominees.

Sammy Gyamfi was initially furious that the minority which had the same number of MPs as the majority on the 26-member committee decided to vote against only three.

According to reports by Accra-based Asempa FM, Sammy Gyamfi was not the only executive of the party who was unhappy with the development.

The reports are that the National Executive Council (NEC) felt that the MPs were pursuing their personal interest and not that of the party.

Sammy Gyamfi who speaks for the NEC lost his cool after Oppong Nkrumah, Mavis Hawa Koomson and Dr Akoto Afriyie were approved by parliament after voting.

The numbers polled by the three nominees indicated that some members on the minority side voted for them.

Sammy Gyamfi took on Speaker Alban Bagbin and the leadership of the Minority caucus over the outcome of the voting.

In a Facebook post, Mr Gyamfi said, “Comrades, the betrayal we have suffered in the hands of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, the leadership of our parliamentary group, particularly Hon. Haruna Iddrissu and Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, and dozens of our own MPs, is what strengthens me to work hard for the great NDC to regain power."

“They brazenly defied the leadership of the party and betrayed the collective good for their selfish interest. And we must not let them succeed in their parochial quest to destroy the NDC, the party that has done so much for them and all of us. The shame they have brought on the party will forever hang like an albatross around their necks.

This position by Sammy Gyamfi was reechoed by Ras Mubarak who until January 7 was an MP on the ticket of the NDC.

“Shell-shocked. A shakeup in the leadership of the NDC in parliament will do a world of good. A radical alternative,” he posted on Facebook.

According to Joy News, the leadership of the Minority in Parliament did not take kindly to this outburst from Sammy Gyamfi and will hold a press conference to address the issues he raised.

But Mensah Thompson, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) and a known member of the NDC will have none of that.

According to him, the party’s ‘defeat’ in parliament should be borne by all and not the MPs alone. He contends that Sammy Gyamfi and other members of the NEC should not blame anyone.

“Sammy Gyamfi and for that matter, any member of the National Executives has any moral right to complain about what happened in parliament yesterday.

“The leadership of the party had a responsibility to keep the MPs in line just as they did for the election of the Speaker, what happened yesterday was a collective failure of the leadership of the party which Sammy Gyamfi is a part of and the MPs and not just the MPs alone.

“If any betrayed the party, the leadership of the party betrayed the party first, where is our results as we speak?

“Such face-saving antics cannot be tolerated, the MPs could not have done what they did without the National Executives and leadership of the not complicit".

Also, in the aftermath of the ruling on the 2020 election petition, some party folks took to social media to lament what they believe is the party’s poor state and the lack of planning by the NEC.

Some have also questioned the leadership of John Mahama as the man to lead the party into the 2024 election.