The Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah says the change of leadership of the Minority caucus in Parliament is part of the party’s reorganization process.
According to him, there are key areas Parliament will centre its debates on ahead of the 2024 election which has informed the eventual changes in the leadership of the Minority.
“It is the continuation of our re-organization exercise to reposition the party for the 2024 elections. So, it’s the continuation of the process which was started a year earlier from branches through to constituency to regional and national. We’ve now come to the reorganization of the form in parliament.
“The thinking is that going into 2024 the debate is going to be principally on the economy and so we need to put our best foot forward so we can match the NPP in that area. That’s why we chose Ato Forson to lead the charge as Minority leader and then Armah Kofi Boah our expert in energy which is also going to feature prominently and then Kwame Agbodza is our person on infrastructure,” he told Starr FM Midday News with Naa Dedei Tettey on January 24, 2023, Tuesday.
He continued: “The party will continue to move forward with our proposal in revamping the economy and hoping to attract the attention of the nation that we offer a better alternative to what we are seeing in the government now. So, the battle will continue except that the key players have changed positions. So, we are not going to relent on making NDC the better alternative.”
Background
The opposition NDC has made changes to its leadership in Parliament with the appointment of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson as the new Minority Leader.
The former Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam replaces Hon. Haruna Iddrisu.
Dr. Ato Forson is to be assisted by MP for Ellembelle, Kofi Armah Buah who has been appointed as the Deputy Minority Leader.
He takes the place of James Kutse Avedzi.
The Party has also appointed Adaklu MP, Governs Kwame Agbodza as the new Minority Chief Whip. He replaces Asawase MP, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak.
Both Ahmed Ibrahim and Comfort Doyoe Ghansah maintained their position as deputy Minority Whips.
A statement issued by the General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey said: “the new leadership would be charged to recommend consequential changes in the Ranking membership to Headquarters of the party for approval.”
The Acting Deputy Chief Executive of Maintenance at the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Ing. Lawrence Lloyd Lankwei Lamptey, has revealed that 30 percent of Ghana’s roads are in good condition while 46 percent are in fair condition, and the remaining 19 percent are in poor condition.
He further indicated that the country is lagging in what the Road ministry wants to achieve in 2037 in terms of Road coverage. This, he said, is a result of inadequate funds, which has also led to a drastic reduction in road maintenance works across the country.
Ing. Lankwei Lamptey made this known at a Training programme for Maintenance Managers and Road Area Managers in all the sixteen regions across the country being held in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital. Ing. Lamptey added that as a result of delays in the allocation of funds from the government, maintenance work has also been reduced drastically.
On shoddy work being executed by some contractors, he has this to say.
The Eastern Regional Director of Roads and Highway Authority, Ing. Patrick Okoto, on his part, said though it is faced with financial constraints, The Authority is supervising 68 development projects and entreated Engineers in charge of the projects to adopt innovative ways to execute them.
He urged participants to take such training workshops seriously since it provides them with upgrades in their field of work which makes them more efficient.
The Director of Road Maintenance at the Ghana Highway Authority, Ing Maama Sawyerr-Markwei reiterated that the economy is in times of financial scarcity which according to him has made logistics limited in all the regions. This, he said, has also made it difficult for Road Contractors to be on-site thereby impeding the progress of road construction across the country.
During the five-day training, the road engineers are taken through the duties and responsibilities of supervising teams on projects in all regions, geometric designs and interpretation of critical designs, core specification, pavement designs and material selection.
National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has explained why the party has replaced key members of its leadership in Parliament.
The NDC through its General Secretary Fifi Fiavi Kwetey wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to announce replacement of three members, the Minority Leader, the deputy Minority Leader and the Minority Chief Whip.
Party reorganization efforts
Asiedu Nketiah said in an interview with Joy News that the changes feeds into the larger party reorganization plan that has seen the election of local level to national officers over the last year.
He said, it had reached the turn of Parliament where the party was reorganizing with the focus on winning the 2024 election.
Why Ato Forson in place of Haruna
On the specific reason why the NDC picked Cassiel Ato Forson (Ajumako Enyan Essiam MP) to replace Haruna Iddrisu (Tamale South MP) as leader of the Minority Caucus, he responded:
“We know for instance that going into election 2024, the economy is going to be the major battleground and so many of the debates and other discussions will focus on the economy.
“So, you better put your best man in the economy forward and that is what we’ve done,” he stressed stating that it was not for the party to consult before ringing the changes.
Other changes and retentions
Other changes included, Kofi Armah Buah, MP for Ellembele, who is the new deputy Minority Chief Whip.
While Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP for Adaklu, will replace Asawase MP Muntaka Mohammed as the Chief Whip.
Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, has been maintained as the First deputy Minority Chief Whip, while Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe-Ghansah, MP for Ada, is also retained as second deputy Minority Chief Whip.
Source: starrfm.com.gh