Deputy Majority leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has accused the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) of a subtle attempt to subvert the constitution.
According to him, a call by the NDC to members of the Minority Caucus to reject ministerial nominees of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is an affront to the constitution because vetting of ministers’ designate is a constitutional imperative.
The Deputy leader was responding to a statement by Minority members of the Appointments Commitment following a directive by the NDC to them to reject nominees of the President.
He said, “A general secretary of a political party cannot sit in his party office and issue a press statement for purpose of political expediency and direct Members of Parliament to reject nominees of the president. It is a sign of disrespect to Parliament.”
“Clearly, the NDC is telling Ghanaians that they don’t respect the Constitution and that the new leadership they just announced is not the type of leadership with the ability to respect the Constitution that they have no thinking caps.
On the eve of the Appointments Committee’s public sitting to vet the President’s ministerial nominees, the General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey, issued a statement directing the Minority to reject the nominees.
He argued the present economic predicament of the country demands President Akufo-Addo listen to Ghanaians and reduce the size of his government.
The Minority issued a statement following the directive and stressed the government is doing the exact opposite of the calls by Ghanaians to reduce the size of the government, which has been a major guzzler of public funds.
“The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is doing the exact opposite of the reasonable, common-sense approach needed to reverse the horrific decline of our economy and its corresponding effect on the quality of life of Ghanaians.”
“Indeed, instead of serious and impactful cuts in government expenditure, more expense continues to be added to the burden of the taxpayer. It is unconscionable to note that, Government has added a whopping GHS82billion to its expenditure for 2023 compared to 2022,”
The Minority stressed its commitment to ensuring greater scrutiny and assured it will spare no effort to protect the public purse by scrutinizing the President’s decision in bringing up those nominees.
The Caucus, however, warned it will not subscribe to a consensus vote at the level of the Appointment Committee to ensure that the matter is brought before the full House for a vote to be taken in secret.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin, however, stressed the new Minority leadership have exposed the fact that they would be acting on the dictates of the party headquarters.
History, he warned, is observing whatever the NDC and the Minority are doing and posterity will make reference to this conduct.
He said, “Clearly, they are trying to obstruct the due process and obstruct the work of this government. If you believe government should downsize there is a way to go about it.”
“You don’t stampede the government but we have a vacancy at the ministry of agriculture, is the NDC saying this Ministry is not important? We have a vacancy at the Ministry of Trade, are they saying that is not important activity and chieftaincy…?
The government, he said, has its own priorities and determines a direction because it has the mandate of the people.
According to him, the Minority may have their views since in a democracy disagreements are bound to happen but urged the side not to use this disagreement to stampede the government.