Minority reshuffle orchestrated by Bagbin

Editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, Yaw Obeng Manu has alleged that the recent change in leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament was influenced by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.

He persisted that Bagbin’s affiliations to the opposition NDC cannot go unnoticed with issues relating to the party despite serving as an arbiter.

During the Editor’s Take discussion on the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun, he alluded that the decision targeted Hon. Haruna Iddrisuand Muntaka Mubarak as leaders of the Minority Caucus as some sections within the party believe they were against Bagbin.

“The decision targeted specific people and obviously it wasn’t just Muntaka but probably Haruna appears to be the target. Before I go into it we have heard the National Chairman of the party, now explaining that the previous leadership were not cooperating with the Speaker of Parliament, knowing very while the Speaker of Parliament is supposed to be an independent arbiter in the whole process,” he told Samuel Eshun.

“Aseidu Nketia is the National Chairman do the decision could not have been made without his input. He also acknowledged the fact that the party struggled to get Bagbin as the Speaker and so naturally the party is supposed to benefit. So if Aseidu Nketia says the leadership were not cooperating with the speaker then I want to assume that Bagbin told them they weren’t working with him and in the scheme of things you cannot take Bagbin out of the NDC now. He matters in the NDC and if he tells them the leadership where working against him then they needed to do something. That was to get rid of them,” he added.

Yaw Obeng Manu further suggested that calls for the NDC leadership to have consulted key members of the party are unrealistic as the party’s decision-makers knew such attempts would prove futile.

On Tuesday, January 24, the NDC changed the makeup of its parliamentary leadership by designating Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, MP for Ajumako Enyam Essiam, as the new Minority Leader.

James Klutse Avedzi, MP for Ketu North, and Muntaka Mubarak, MP for Asawase were demoted from their roles as Minority leader, Deputy Minority leader, and Minority Chief Whip, respectively.

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, MP for Ajumako-Enyam-Essiam, Emmanuel Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle, and Kwame Agbodza, MP for Adaklu have taken their places as Minority leader, the Deputy Minority leader and Minority Chief Whip respectively.

By: Jude Tackie