Addressing the press at Parliament on Thursday, January 26, 2023, Muntaka said that he is surprised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) were not consulted before the decision was taken to change their leadership.
He posited that even though there are no laid down procedures for the appointment of the party’s parliamentary leadership, the precedency is that MPs are always consulted before the final decision is made.
He added that if the party’s decision is accepted by the caucus, he has no problem accepting it.
“In 2013, all the NDC MPs met at the office of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, and I remember the then executives of the party were there. Names were mentioned one after the other; discussion will go on, then we will affirm them before it was announced.
“Then in 2017, the same thing happened. We came to a caucus meeting at the Job 600 auditorium, and all those discussions happened there on the 4th of January for us to conclude.
“… I can assure you I will pledge 100 percent if this process is taken through our caucus and the caucus takes a decision we will support whoever is chosen,” he said.
Muntaka, the MP for Asawase, and senior MPs of the NDC, including Dominic Ayine (MP for Bolgatanga East) and Cletus Avoka (MP for Zebilla), petitioned the party's National Executive Committee (NDC) on the selection of the new executives.
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 replaced 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.
This was contained in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, from the National Democratic Congress, dated January 23, 2023.
IB/BOG
Outgoing Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka