Parliament Boycott: Akomea hits back at NDC

Nana Akomea has rebuffed a suggestion by Haruna Iddrisu that the NPP could pay dearly, by directing its Parliamentarians not to participate in any activity having direct bearing on John Mahama’s presidency.

NPP MPs on Thursday walked out of Parliament at the time President Mahama entered the House to deliver his State of the Nation address.

They argued attending activities that relate directly to President Mahama would undermine the party’s case in court challenging the election results.

The party is accusing the Electoral Commission (EC) of ‘stealing’ over 1.34 million votes for President Mahama to enable him to win the election in the first round by drawing over 50% of the popular vote.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu described the action of his colleagues on the minority side as “suicidal political path”, and urged them to rethink the decision.

Speaking however on weekly news analysis programme, News File on the Joy News TV and Joy FM Saturday, the NPP’s communications director said the NDC in 2007, took a similar decision to boycott President Kufuor’s State of the Nation address, but that did not affect their chances of winning the 2008 presidential elections.

He said NDC MPs then abandoned their seats in the House to protest the incarceration of Mr. Dan Abodakpi, a sitting MP for Keta, even though the MP was convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction.

“In 2007, Haruna and Mahama [then MP for Bole] walked out of President Kufuor’s State of the Nation address yet, they won the elections in 2008… If NPP can go by their records, then walking out of Parliament can be beneficial.

“Nobody has said John Mahama is not President; we did not stop him from delivering the address, we did not block him from entering the House, we did not picket the Parliament House,” the former MP for Okaikwei South stated.