Bagbin shares juicy jobs in Parliament to NDC big boys …Majority Leader cries in shock

Majority Leader in Parliament Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has said the rate at which the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin is appointing persons who hold key leadership positions in the National Democratic Congress (NDC)  to take up notable jobs in Parliament could be injurious to the integrity and  put it in the armpit of one political party.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu Member of Parliament for Suame said apart from the recent appointment of Johnson Asiedu Nketia the General Secretary of the NDC to be on the Parliamentary Service Board, Alban Bagbin has also appointed the NDC Vice chairman, Kofi Attoh as an advisor.

“You have brought in Kofi Attoh who is the Vice Chairman of the party and you are saying that he is the Advisor. So Kofi Attoh is there.  He brought in two former MPs Amartey is one and Shaibu Mahama of Daboya-Mankarigu Constituency. He says he is bringing them on as Advisors. So you have the two former MPs and then you have Kofi Attoh NDC Vice Chairman, Asiedu Nketia, NDC General Secretary, and then someone who everyone knew he was a Communicator for the NDC party, Gayheart Mensah. He is also coming to the Speaker’s office. So you are turning that place into an enclave for the NDC. There is one other guy whose name I have forgotten. He was also a very usual panelist at Radio Gold, I understand he says he wants to make him his Communications Officer. So some of us thought that this is becoming one-too-much”, the Majority Leader noted in an interview on Joy News TV.

Below are transcripts of what exactly Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said on the show: I am unhappy but not with Asiedu Nketia as an individual. Asiedu Nketia has been a Member of Parliament and one-on-one, he is an intelligent person. Maybe if he has to contribute to developing Parliament, he could.  My worry is his current position as the General Secretary [of the National Democratic Congress]. It has never happened in the life of Parliament before, especially when you have a very intrusive General Secretary who in the cause of doing normal business of Parliament, he would come and sit there to ensure that his people vote in a certain direction.

“I am afraid for Parliament because these are the little steps that you take that affects the integrity of Parliament. In the former Soviet Union, in the communist systems, the Secretary Generals of political parties were the ones that emerged as presidents. So all their presidents have been Secretary Generals for their party….So my worry was to having the General Secretary come to sit on the Parliamentary Service Board. The MPs told me they were under pressure by their party to field him. Normally, during Rawlings’ time, the Service Board has always had a woman. This time there is no woman.

“After the swearing in of the Speaker, I went to him and told him that the other day, we were going to bring the former Majority Leader, Abraham Osei Aidoo. The former Speaker, Professor Mike Oquaye, at the last minute informed us that apparently he had had some discussions with Hackman Owusu Agyeman, that if he becomes the Speaker, he would make him a member of the Board so he did not want to break that promise. So Hackman, if I should be blunt, took the place of Osei Aidoo. Three days after coronation of Alban, I went to him and had these discussions with him because he himself knew. The deputy Speakers have not been part of the Parliamentary Service Board but Oquaye brought them on board; Alban and Osei Owusu. So Alban got to know this. The Right Honourable Bagbin got to know of this so when Speaker Oquaye lost and I told him that in this case, maybe we could bring Osei because Osei Aidoo was one person who had the passion to helping us develop Parliament.

“It was later on, that Haruna, when I engaged him told me that oh, you know, he was under pressure to field somebody. He did not mention any name of Asiedu Nketia to me. Later on, about a week after, it was Alban who told me that Asiedu Nketia’s name had been given for them to field him. Then I said oh where from this? Don’t you think this is going to be one too much? Because these are things that we do and it would mean that we are putting Parliament in the armpit of one political party.

“Because for the first time in the history of Ghana, you have brought in Kofi Attoh who is the Vice Chairman of the party and you are saying that he is the Advisor. So Kofi Attoh is there.  He brought in two former MPs Amartey is one and Shaibu Mahama of Daboya-Mankarigu Constituency. He says he is bringing them on as Advisors. So you have the two former MPs and then you have Kofi Attoh NDC Vice Chairman, Asiedu Nketia, NDC General Secretary, and then someone who everyone knew he was a Communicator for the NDC party, Gayheart Mensah. He is also coming to the Speaker’s office. So you are turning that place into an enclave for the NDC. There is one other guy whose name I have forgotten. He was also a very usual panelist at Radio Gold, I understand he says he wants to make him his Communications Officer. So some of us thought that this is becoming one-too-much.

“I have told him that Mr. Speaker, where you are taking Parliament to, I think if you are not careful, this whole thing would collapse on all on us. He said we need to talk about it but we have not seriously”, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted.