Speaking in a Zuria FM interview broadcasted on the radio station's Facebook page, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Muntaka said that the national executives replaced them because most of the party's leaders in parliament were all people from the northern parts of the country.
The Member of Parliament for Asawase added that the reasoning behind the reshuffling does not make sense because the party used to have most of its national executive and parliamentary leadership from the Volta Region.
“We asked him (Asiedu Nketiah) why we were replaced and he said the speaker was from the north, Haruna (Iddrisu) is also from the north, Mutaka is also a northerner and Ahmed Ibrahim is also a northerner, why should it be so. And I told him that the party was a democratic party and people are chosen to be leaders based on merit.
“Because at some point our National Chairman Obed Asamoah was a Voltarian, our treasurer was also from the Volta Region, our women organiser was also from the Volta Region, and youth organiser was also from the Volta. The deputy speaker at that time was also from the Volta; Doe Adjaho, the deputy leader, was from the Volta Region; the deputy whip was from the Volta,” a displeased Muntaka said in the Hausa dialect.
He added that “Nobody saw the fault in this at that time. Kwabena Adjei become chairman, he is from the Volta Region; Anita Desoso was his women’s organiser, she was from the Volta Region; the youth organiser was also from the Volta Region; Doe Adjaho become the deputy speaker and he was also from the Volta”.
The change in the leadership of the minority caucus of parliament has led to some confusion in the NDC, with some members of the party, including some Members of Parliament, saying that the party’s parliamentarians should have been consulted before the move.
The NDC leadership has appointed the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, as the minority leader in the 8th Parliament of Ghana’s Fourth Republic. He is to replace the MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu.
According to the NDC, Kofi Armah Buah, MP for Ellembele, will take over as the Deputy Minority Leader while Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP for Adaklu, he will replace Asawase MP Muntaka Mohammed as the Chief Whip.
Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, has been maintained as the First Deputy Minority Whip, while Comfort Doyo Cudjoe-Ghansah, MP for Ada, is the Second Deputy Minority Whip.
Some MPs of the party have petitioned the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to suspend the appointment of the new leadership of the party in Parliament.
The NDC MPs calling for the suspension, including Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka (MP for Asawase), Dominic Ayine (MP for Bolgatanga East) and Cletus Avoka (MP for Zebilla), argue that the appointment was not made by any of the party’s decision-making structures but was imposed by just a few people.
Watch the interview below:
IB/DA
Former Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka