The Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr Rasheed Draman, has stated that the recently-appointed Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader and Minority Chief Whip have not been fully accepted yet by the Minority Caucus.
He explained that it calls for extra work to be done by the current leadership to endear themselves to the Caucus and the entire House.
Haruna Iddrisu, Dr James Avedzi and Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka- Mubarak as Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader and Minority Chief Whip respectively were removed by the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and replaced with Dr Ato Forson, Minority Leader and his Deputy Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah and Kwame Agbodza, Minority Chief Whip which resulted in agitation among the Minority caucus.
According to Dr Draman, the reshuffle in the Minority bench was still haunting the caucus and there was need for the new leadership to assert themselves in Parliament.
He claimed that the Minority in Parliament was having a negative ripple effect as a result of its previous reshuffle in the minority leadership which appeared the current Minority had not been fully embraced by the caucus, necessitating additional efforts on their part.
“It looks like the ghost of the reshuffle in the Minority bench is still haunting the caucus, I am not the only one saying this because this has been said by Alhaji Muntaka, former Minority leader, and when we listen to proceedings in Parliament, the Majority Leader jokingly took a jab at the Minority Leader and told him you have not been confirmed yet.
“Because the minority side has not fully accepted the new leadership, a lot of work needs to be done even as 17 of their members will not be returning to Parliament in 2025, so the new leadership has not been fully accepted by the rank and file of the Minority caucus and there is a lot of work that needs to be done for the leadership.
“They will have to endear themselves to the entire caucus, particularly given the dilemma facing them where they have 17 of their members not returning to Parliament after losing their parliamentary primary,” Dr Draman pointed out.
He insisted that the new leadership had not been fully accepted by the rank and file of the Minority caucus so there was lot of work that needed to be done in order for the leadership to endear themselves to the entire caucus particularly when 17 of their members would not return to the House.
