John Alexander Ackon, Ashanti Regional Minister
The outgoing National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will provide a most credible opposition when the incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is sworn into office for the next four years, Ashanti Regional Minister John Alexander Ackon has said.
Speaking on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Monday January 2, Mr Ackon noted that he expected the seventh parliament of the Fourth Republic, which would be sworn into office on January 7, to be vibrant.
He called on incoming parliamentarians to avoid absenteeism to enable them conduct government business effectively.
“We are going to provide the most credible opposition than this one. There is no way for me that NDC MPs are going to go to parliament in mourning cloth when the State of the Nation address is being read,” he stated.
“…We are not going to get a situation where…we boycott the State of the Nation address contrary to law. We are not going to do that but we will give a credible opposition and I think people should respect us for that.”
Mr Ackon: “…The NPP has 170 [seats in parliament] to the extent that they will be able to [have] 70 Members of Parliament as ministers of state and will still have enough to operate in parliament, so I expect parliament to be vibrant. We don’t expect absenteeism looking at the numbers. As for the opposition, they will not be in the executive and so they will be there always. So my expectation is we should have a parliament full at all times to conduct government business.”
