NDC should choose their battles well – Sowutwum MP

The Member of Parliament for Sowutwum, Dr. Dickson Adomako Kissi, has called on the Minority caucus in parliament to act responsibly as the opposition.

The MP’s comments follow the brouhaha accompanying the recent approval of government’s ministerial nominees.

The Sowutwum MP wants the Minority to come to terms with the fact that as a Minority, they cannot exceed their capacity.

According to the Sowutwum MP, the NDC should have been more forthcoming with Ghanaians by indicating their stance as a Minority caucus instead of making it look like they had the capacity to overturn decisions.

Speaking on Dwa Br3 Mu on CTV, Wednesday, 29 March 2023, the Sowutwum MP advised the NDC to choose their battles wisely.

He told show host Nana Otu Darko that: “Personally I think one, NDC should choose their battles properly. Why do I say that? One, the country cannot run without an Agric minister, the country cannot run without a Trade minister, so they should have been very clear to the Ghanaian people that these two ministries, we cannot do much about but the other three, we’ll target this or that.”

The Sowutwum MP indicated that as a country going through economic challenges, more hands are needed to get the job done.

He said: “The other problem I have is in all honesty we’re [Ghana] financially sick, and when you’re sick, you need all hands on deck. So the addition, at the Finance Ministry which is not even an addition but a replacement was also very apt for me.”

He indicated that the Minority caucus could have done things differently, instead, with regard to the approval of the ministers.

“In hindsight, the injury sustained by the NDC, I think if they had done their assessment well, the least troublesome path would have been to abstain or opted for voice vote to indicate that ‘As a caucus, we won’t agree’,” he opined.

The Sowutwum lawmaker, therefore, urged the minority to be a “listening” one instead of one that wants to attempt to exceed its designation.

“I’m begging the opposition party to also be a listening team. We always say the President is not a listening one but is the opposition listening too? I say that because after elections when a president is elected our capacity as the opposition can never exceed that of the President."

“The designation of a deputy Minister can never match that of the substantive Minister. It’s a fact, so as the opposition, don’t try to make your capacity supersede that of the Majority as stipulated by the constitution. They must come to terms with the fact that their designation as opposition can never equal that of the majority,” he asserted.

He continued: “They [NDC] must be a responsible opposition party, in the same way we do not have two presidents in this country so at a point, you have to let Ghanaians know you’ve done what you can, by stating your position expressly. That you don’t support the president’s decision. Make your stance known to Ghanaians. Leave it and allow the President to go ahead.”

The Sowutwum MP, however, pleaded with the Minority caucus to put the recent occurrence behind and reorganise themselves going into the party’s primaries.

“I’ll plead with NDC that moving forward, we should end on a very wonderful[ly] matured political way devoid of any misunderstandings going into the primaries,” the Sowutwum MP appealed.