Minority shake-up: Appointment of Ato Forson, others not a decision of the NDC – Muntaka

The outgoing Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, has said that the appointment of new leadership for the minority caucus was not a decision of the National Democratic Congress.

According to him, none of the party’s structures, which are supposed to take decisions for the party, were involved in the selection of the new leadership of the minority caucus.

Muntaka, who made these remarks while addressing the press at Parliament on Thursday, January 26, 2023, added that the letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament on the new leadership of the minority was written based on the decision of just a few people.

“The letters that were issued were not a decision of the party. Our party has about four decision-making structures. First Congress, where all delegates meet to take decisions, second is the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the third is the Functional Executive Committee (FEC).

“It is when this group takes decisions that you get the General Secretary and the Principal Officer involvement. Then we also have the Council of Elders.

“I serve on FEC, I serve on NEC, I go to the Council of Elders as an observer and the minority leader (Haruna Iddrisu) is also on all these levels and at no such meeting was there any agenda to discuss this. So, it is clear that the letter was written by the General Secretary but the decision may have been taken by just a few people in the party,” he said.

He urged the executive of the party to sit up and ensure their actions did not go contrary to the constitution of the party.

Muntaka, the MP for Asawase, and senior MPs of the NDC, including Dominic Ayine (MP for Bolgatanga East) and Cletus Avoka (MP for Zebilla), petitioned the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) to suspend the new leadership appointment.

The change in the leadership of the minority caucus of Parliament has led to some confusion in the NDC, with some members of the party, including some Members of Parliament, saying that the party’s parliamentarians should have been consulted before the move.

The NDC leadership has appointed the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, as the minority leader in the 8th Parliament of Ghana’s Fourth Republic. He replaced the MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu.

According to the NDC, Kofi Armah Buah, MP for Ellembele, will take over as the Deputy Minority Leader.

While Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP for Adaklu, he will replace Asawase MP Muntaka Mohammed as the Chief Whip.

Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, has been maintained as the First Deputy Minority Whip, while Comfort Doyo Cudjoe-Ghansah, MP for Ada, is the Second Deputy Minority Whip.

This was contained in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, from the National Democratic Congress, dated January 23, 2023.



IB/BOG