Former President John Mahama has appealed to the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to disregard any list of the Members of Parliament (MPs) of the party who are purported to have voted for the approval of the new ministers appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“You do not throw away the bathing water with the baby, those who voted for the approval needs to be talked to and not gagged,” he cautioned.
According to him, there were so many voting processes expected in Parliament that would need the input of the MPs who voted for the approval of the new ministers of the government and they must not be gagged.
Making the appeal at the Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region at the weekend when he toured the constituency as part of his three-day campaign in the region, former President Mahama indicated that on the said date what happened in Parliament saddened the party and had seen fake lists on social media, indicating that those MPs voted against the NDC.
“The list is alleging that they voted against NDC and it is a fake list so I urge all NDC members and supporters to ignore it since we will need their input during voting processes in the House,” he said.
Armah-Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, who is the MP for Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region, intimated that the Minority would look for the 31 MPs who voted for the approval of the ministers of the current government.
He explained that such MPs were needed by the Minority since there would be more of such votes ahead which would need their votes to sail through as Minority adding that “the majority of the NDC MPs voted for the NDC and so people should not slam the entire NDC MPs who stood for the NDC.
“We shall look for the 31 MPs who voted for the approval and talk to them because we have several of such proceedings ahead of us,” Mr Buah stressed.
Parliament after hours of voting approved the nomination of the new ministers appointed by President Akufo-Addo but the Minority caucus in Parliament earlier insisted on having the voting on the president’s ministerial nominees done via secret ballot.
The NDC asked all its MPs not to support the approval of the nominees however, after secret vote, all nominees were approved despite absence of three MPs from the Majority caucus in Parliament.
The outcome of Friday’s vote indicates several members of the Minority voted for the approval of the ministerial nominees.
