The Minority in Parliament has issued a terse warning to Deputy Majority Alexander Afenyo-Markin to guard his tongue against unsavoury comments he makes about its leadership.
The Caucus indicated if the Deputy Majority leader wants to engage the Minority and its leadership he should refine his language else they won’t respect him as a leader in the House.
Deputy Minority leader Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah issued the warning on Tuesday 21st February, 2023 in response to a comment by the Effutu legislator to the effect the Minority leadership does not have a thinking cap.
His comments followed a directive by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) executive to the Minority not to approve the new ministerial nominees of the President in order to force the government to downsize.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin, however, described the directive as an affront to the country’s democracy and a subtle attempt by the NDC to subvert the 1992 Constitution.
“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 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, and have no thinking caps.”
Hon. Kofi-Buah, however, took strong exception to the ‘thinking cap’ phrase and argued the new Minority leadership comprised of individuals who have served as Ministers and Deputy Ministers and went through the grueling exercise of being vetted by the Appointments Committee.
According to him, the call by the NDC and the Minority leader are in alignment with the call of Ghanaians that the Akufo-Addo-led government should downsize and cut costs, especially at a time when the country is in a serious economic crisis.
He averred that the resignation of three ministers from the government should have been an opportunity for President Akufo-Addo to downsize so the call of the Minority and its mother party the NDC is in sync with the concerns of Ghanaians.
The Deputy Minority leader laughed off the claims by Mr. Afenyo-Markin that they do not respect the 1992 Constitution and argued it is the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that boycotted its drafting.
He said, “It is the NDC that stood firm and worked with ordinary Ghanaians to bring this constitution so we are very proud of this democracy.”
He argued that just three months ago, the General Secretary of the NPP issued a letter directing the Majority MPs not to participate in the Censure Motion of the Finance Minister when the people of Ghana called for his resignation.
Citing another example Mr. Kofi-Buah indicated that the NPP national executives also directed its members of Parliament not to participate in the vetting of Ministers after the 2012 elections when they contested Mahama’s victory
“Is he implying that the Majority leadership agreed to these directives because they did not have thinking heads?”
“We believe we are in serious crisis and this House is a house of serious business and not a house of insults,” he said.
He urged the Deputy Majority leader to withdraw the statement and apologize to the Minority caucus and its leadership and warned, “If he goes on this path we will not deal with him as a leader.