Kofi Adams, Inusah Fuseini defend new NDC leaders

Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency in the Oti Region, Kofi Adams, a former National Organiser and former Deputy National Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has publicly defended the recent announcement his party leadership issued  regarding a new leadership for the Minority Group in Parliament.

On the same subject matter of a new leadership for the Minority Group, another NDC stalwart and former MP for Tamale Central Alhaji Inusah Fuseini has defended the decision of the party national leadership.

Inusah Fuseini described the change as forward-looking and not a suggestion of failure on the part of the old leadership.

Mr. Adams, on his part, said the Party’s announcement is constitutional and even in conformity with the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Mr. Adams made the comments when asked if he was part of the group of NDC MPs who have signed a petition to challenge the decision by the party’s national leadership.

“I am a Member of Parliament for Buem and representing the political party, the NDC. I am very much aware of how leadership is put together in Ghana’s Parliament because I have been a national officer for a very long time.

“I would not sign a petition to leadership to do such a thing. If I have any concern, I have how I would address it. So I am not one of those who have put their signatures to such a document”, Kofi Adams told Citi Fm’s Eye Witness News.

Standing Orders

He continued: “When you come to the Standing Orders, Order 7 talks about interpretation of certain terms. If you look at who a minority or a majority leader is, the Standing Orders define or interpret who a Majority or Minority Leader is. In this case let me deal with the Minority Leader. Minority Leader means a Member of Parliament designated by the Party or Parties and or Members forming the Minority.

“A simple understanding is that if you take the word in the order that they appear, our own Standing Orders understands that it is the Party that designates or the Parties if they are in alliance, they designate. It is only when they fail or they do not act that the members forming the Minority can now recognize someone.

“But when the party acts  the members forming the Minority would have to recognize the decision of the party. I have been in Parliament and I know how over the years we have done this process. I agree that you need to consult those who are coming in and you need to inform those who are exiting at least some time enough before the public announcement.  If those things did not happen then we have something to deal with. But I am told they happened.  My checks indicate that it has happened.

Stop The Insults

“Now this has come up and what we need to do is to see how we can manage the situation. The three new persons coming in are persons of high standing and no mean persons. I heard one of our colleagues saying that this is not the time to make any non-entity    an entity. None of the three is a nonentity. All are Ranking Members. Some have been Ministers or Deputy Ministers. To be a Ranking  Member means to be a shadow Minister . Some are in their fourth or third terms in Parliament” Kofi Adams noted.

Inusah Fuseini

Speaking on the same subject on matter on Pan-African TV, Alhaji Inusah argued that the change is a strategic repositioning of the party in that Parliament will become battleground for the NDC as it seeks to wrestle power from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2024.

“… Energy will play a critical role in debates in Parliament; Infrastructure will play a critical role in debates…So the reshuffle is simply not to say the old leadership, the leadership of Haruna Iddrisu did not do well. No! Far from it. I have had occasion to tell him [Haruna Iddrisu] time and again that he had done well. But this reshuffle is forward-looking. What is the goal? The goal is to secure victory, to win, to use Parliament as a battleground to win the minds and hearts of the people of Ghana and engender sympathy towards the NDC for election 2024,” he argued.

He stressed that the change in the national leadership and subsequently the parliamentary leadership of the party is to send a signal of the party’s strategic repositioning given the prevailing circumstances.

“Now that being so, you have to put your best foot forward. Strategic repositioning of the party does not mean that those who were replaced did not do well.

Again strategic repositioning and election of new current executive is to send a signal that this is what NDC is doing: to position people in such a way so that the party cannot lose election 2024. And that is what has been done. And that is why I respect and I support it. And I will defend it anywhere,” he noted on Pan African TV.