Ras Mubarak, a former NDC MP for
Kumbungu has advised members of his party not to “attack” Speaker Alban
Bagbin for the confirmation of ministerial-nominees through secret voting.
Ras Mubarak told Joy News
on Thursday: “It was not the Speaker of Parliament who held the hands of some
NDC members to vote in the manner they did. So, it’s completely wrong for
somebody…. to attack the integrity of the Speaker of Parliament for the turn of
events in parliament.”
The nominees for
Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hawa Koomson;
and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Akoto Afriyie, sailed through after they were
rejected by Parliament’s Appointments Committee.
Per the Standing Orders of
Parliament, the plenary, or “Committee of the Whole,” was required to vote on
the list.
After the secret voting on
Wednesday, the nominees were passed. The President will now swear them into
office so that they can officially start work.
Some NDC leaders and supporters
have given scathing and robust criticisms of the Minority leadership in
parliament and the Speaker, saying they could have done more to advance the
interest of the NDC.
Sammy Gyamfi, National
Communications Officer of the NDC especially, wrote on his Facebook timeline:
“Comrades, the betrayal we have suffered in the hands of the Speaker of
Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, the leadership of our Parliamentary
group, particularly Hon. Haruna Iddrissu and Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, and dozens
of our own MPs, is what strengthens me to work hard for the great NDC to regain
power.”
“It’s about time we understood that we don’t have any NDC
Speaker of Parliament. No, we don’t! We have a Speaker who rode on the back of
the NDC into office to pursue his own parochial agenda and nothing more. You
trust them, at your own peril,” he stressed.
Some of the nominees now ministers-designate evaded questions
or were not truthful during their vetting, and then offered insincere apologies
when they realised they were going to be rejected.
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