Minority Leadership Had Challenges Working With Alban Bagbin - Asiedu Nketiah

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has once again justified the party’s decision to reshuffle the Minority leadership in Parliament. The former General Secretary of the NDC at a Press Conference in the United Kingdom said the changes became necessary because the Minority leadership was not working well together.

He also claimed that the minority leadership had challenges cooperating with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin. “Why did we struggle to get an NDC person elected as a Speaker of Parliament? There are certainly some advantages and those advantages can be tapped into when your leadership is cooperating with the Speaker.

So we cannot have a situation where NPP leadership is cooperating with the Speaker, and our NDC leadership has challenges cooperating with the Speaker.” “And if you are given a party whose leadership in Parliament is not working together, what will you do, you make the changes, or you resign, and I’m not about to resign,” Mr Asiedu Nketiah said.

The comments by the National Chairman of the NDC come after the Council of Elders of the NDC admonished aggrieved members of the party, Members of Parliament and party leadership to refrain from further public pronouncements following the change in Minority leadership.

In a statement issued on Saturday, January 28, 2023, the Council assured to come up with an early and principled resolution on the matter. The NDC last week reshuffled its leadership in Parliament replacing Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu with Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle also replaced Ketu North MP, James Klutse Avedzi as the Deputy Minority Leader while Kwame Governs Agbodza replaced Asawase MP, Muntaka Mubarak as the Minority Chief Whip.

But several NDC MPs have described the leadership changes as undemocratic and deeply worrying after they claimed they were not consulted prior to the change. Over 70 MPs subsequently signed a petition to reject the decision of the party.