The New Patriotic Party (NPP) with its sizeable number of 123 (one hundred and twenty-three) members in Parliament is not providing effective opposition to get the ruling NDC Government on its toes to deliver on the plethora of promises and assurances given to the people per their 2012 general election manifesto. Issues at the heart of Ghanaians seem to be ignored as the leading Minority Opposition Party (NPP) is rather focused on internal bickering. The NDC Government continues to get away with unfulfilled promises against the backdrop of a non-vibrant NPP Minority Parliamentary Opposition that seem to be sleeping on the job and remain a massive disappointment to the people of Ghana who rely on them to get the government to run our nation in the right order.
I am not alone in this assertion of poor performance by the leading opposition party in our national Parliament. The National Watch, a pro-democracy pressure group, has called on the minority in parliament to offer cogent alternative policy ideas to government and desist from unproductive debates, saying the minority have failed to highlight critical policy issues or alternatives and, therefore, advised them to back off the unproductive road of “deception spree”.
A senior lecturer at the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwame Karikari has also criticised the opposition New Patriotic Party for failing to put government on its toes. According to him, “…the opposition parties are asleep”. The NPP he opined were spending more time eating each other up than targeting all the exposé the media houses were doing. Hon Kennedy Agyapong, the NPP Member of Parliament for Assin Central has vowed to throw his weight behind the National Democratic Congress (NDC) “if plots to destroy the NPP continue to be fuelled by certain selfish individuals hailing from the Ashanti Region”.
The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Mr Kwesi Pratt Jr. has also questioned the level of responsibility of the NPP Minority Group in Parliament for alleging that the Government has allowed the Bui Power Authority to spend $3 million on a Golf Park and other recreational facilities without verifying the accuracy of the information on the basis of which the NPP organised a press conference which now seems to be inaccurate delivery of salvo intended to score a point over the ruling NDC Government.
The case of old security guards clashing with new security guards at NPP Headquarters and Madam Hajia Fati vitriolic attack on the NPP General Secretary Mr Agyapong, branding him a “beast” for disallowing her access into the party headquarters is one too many of serious problems in the NPP ranks. Even the General Secretary of the NDC of all parties, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketsiah (General Mosquito) has chipped in to call for an orderly and democratic arrangement to resolve the security recruitment problems at the NPP headquarters.
Ghanaians expect the Minority NPP Opposition in Parliament to keep the NDC government in check and bitter differences within the NPP are bound to have adverse effect on their members in Parliament. No rocket scientist is needed here to work this assertion out. A question to ponder about is that, if the campaign to elect the party’s flag bearer is generating belligerency within the party how on earth can the party be trusted by the electorate to gain power at the next general elections? Do not correct me if I am right, but the ongoing factionalism in the NPP camp (Akuffo Addo and Kyeremanten sympathisers) is attracting unnecessary publicity whilst the nation has fallen short on some issues that the leading Minority Opposition can play an important role to help resolve them.
There are many issues of national concern, e.g. Gyeeda, Sada, Subah, Isofoton, Woyome, the matter of beneficiaries of the 932 tractors and accessories imported from India by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 2008 and other cases of malfeasance and latterly the case of Ghanaian contingent supporters in Brazil 2014 World Cup reduced to sleeping on the floor, to name only a few. These and other critical issues require urgent attention of the Minority Party in opposition and there is no magic wand they can use to operate effectively in Parliament without the support and backing of the eminent men and women in the NPP who are not in Parliament.
The leading Minority Opposition in Parliament is there for every Ghanaian and not just for their party folks. Their actions or inactions are important to us all. We therefore pray that their conduct reflects the nation’s best interests and that is why we expect them to stay focused on their responsibilities in the House of Parliament and avoid distractions such as internal wrangling within their party in performance of their parliamentary duties. Most NPP members I come across either personally or in radio talk shows believe that their party is the automatic choice of the people of Ghana to take over the reins of political power from the NDC come 2016 general elections. This self-held belief makes them complacent enough to assume that they are destined for the Flagstaff House in 2017 come rain or shine and they seem to have removed their eyes off the ball to focus on the impending flag bearer’s race thereby giving the odd carte blanche to the NDC to have their own way without being called to order on some salient issues in Parliament. However, posterity may have other ideas and replace the NDC with a more credible alternative of Progressive People’s Party (PPP) which is a possibility. Others may be in denial at their own peril though. The advent of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) on the political scene makes it a three-horse race affair and a different ball game at that. It is therefore 3 (three) of us in the race; NDC, NPP and PPP which is now the second largest opposition party in Ghana.
What we need in Ghana today is not about the leading Minority Opposition party preparing to come to power in 2 (two) years’ time for the sake of it when there are seriously pressing issues, namely, the state of our economy, securing our national borders, internal security, regional development, power outages, agricultural revolution, good roads, national railway transportation and many more to be addressed. Our nation needs a party that is issue-based and one that would do something very different from the usual unproductive norm, in order to propel our country towards full employment.
I would like to see an opposition party in Parliament actively vetting every issue on the table, approving the good bits and constructively calling to question issues that are detrimental to our national good. In much the same way as the ruling NDC has its way, the leading NPP Minority Opposition has its say. It therefore goes without saying that any good political party in opposition must do all its work in-house rather than taking onto the streets on issues that can and must be dealt with in the House, especially when they have 123 men and women in Parliament. The recent mass demonstrations by the NPP in Kumasi on Tuesday 10th June, 2014 was unnecessary when the message of the demonstrations was to register the party’s displeasure at the perceived increasing hardships in the region such as the effects of a new capitation policy under the National Health Insurance Scheme and the excessive erratic power supply ‘Dum sor dum sor’. Street demonstrations would be best left to the parties without representation in the current sitting of Parliament of which PPP is no exception.
Kit Yawson PPP-UK
London.25 June, 2014
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