Kwesi Pratt Jnr says there will be a tsunami in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) following some MPs betraying their (NDC) supporters and instead affirming the nominations of Hawa Koomson, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto to become ministers-designate.
“There may be a tsunami within the NDC which will sweep aside all the leaders for a new leadership to emerge or there will be so much apathy within the NDC that the fortunes of the NDC will dip seriously,” Pratt said on Pan African TV’s Good Morning Africa.
Pratt Jnr. stated further that the confidence of the supporters of the party has been shattered “by the party itself, by its leaders. They have shattered the confidence of the people in the National Democratic Congress. This is disgraceful, this is embarrassing and this must be a lesson of the betrayal of the electorate.”
Kwesi Pratt Jnr. went on: “You approve Hawa Koomson, who doesn’t know the structure of her ministry and you say it’s on principle. What principle is that? Shameful behaviour by our leaders. Our leaders are constantly showing us that they have no respect for us,”
An obviously unhappy Kwesi Pratt Jnr. indicated that the attitude of the leaders in this country will result in new forces emerging on our political landscape “which will demonstrate to the people that they respect them, that they will do their will. That those new forces should emerge we shall sing the requiem mass of the NDC and other parties which take the interest of the people for granted.”
The nominees for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hawa Koomson; and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Akoto Afriyie, sailed through after they were rejected by Parliament’s Appointments Committee.
Per the Standing Orders of Parliament, the plenary, or "Committee of the Whole," was required to vote on the list.
After the secret voting on Wednesday, the nominees were passed. The President will now swear them into office so that they can officially start work.
Some NDC leaders and supporters have given scathing and robust criticisms about the Minority leadership of Parliament and the Speaker, saying they could have done more to advance the interest of the NDC and the nation.
Sammy Gyamfi, National Communications Officer of the NDC especially, wrote on his Facebook timeline: “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.”
"It’s about time we understood that we don’t have any NDC Speaker of Parliament. No, we don’t! We have a Speaker who rode on the back of the NDC into Office to pursue his own parochial agenda and nothing more. You trust them, at your own peril,” he stressed.
Some of the nominees, now ministers-designate, evaded questions or were not truthful during their vetting, and then offered insincere apologies when they realised they were going to be rejected.
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