According to him, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) members have not yet woken up from the past and so, they continue to adopt a retrogressive approach towards national issues.
Explaining the repercussions of the minority’s attitude, Ras Mubarak stated categorically in an interview with Peacefmonline.com that; “The NPP is stuck in the past, they are not thinking progress…you expect that seven years down the line, they would have learnt from some of the mistakes from the past and actually did the right thing. The NPP claims it is Nana Addo, Bawumia and Jake who are in court and not the party, yet they will take decision for the whole party. Because they are saying that because the three individuals are in court, they are using their party structures to boycott a session as important as the President’s address.”
“They are stuck in the past because if you say the NDC abstained in 2007, so it is okay for you to also abstain in 2013; clearly you are out of touch…Clearly, you are saying that two wrongs make right. And for me, that is retrogressive because we ought to be making progress as a country. What looked like a bad thing in 2007 should equally be bad in 2013?” he explained.
The minority bench in Parliament last Thursday walked out on President John Dramani Mahama in agreement with their party’s directives.
NPP leadership; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his Running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey have petitioned the Supreme Court, challenging the legitimacy of President Mahama.
In accordance with the pending case in court, the opposition members have sought to boycott all activities involving the President; a position the party holds.
The minority members walked out of Thursday’s parliamentary event that saw President Mahama give his maiden State of the Nation Address, in protest against him.
The NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie commenting on the minority’s partial participation in the State of the Nation Address, labelled the President's speech as “boring” adding that it will not survive the test of time.
According to him, the President lacks credibility and has virtually proven to be untrustworthy; a reason why the minority dissociated themselves from his speech. He also asserted that the speech didn’t reflect the true state of the nation.
“People don’t trust him. And in last year’s elections, we talked about that which is why from the figures that we have, from the monumental evidence that we have gathered; everything points to the fact that he was not the winner of the elections…they don’t trust him. He lacks credibility,” Sir John as he is popularly called said in an interview with Peacefmonline.com.
Despite the minority’s strong position, Ras Mubarak outlined that the speech rather reflected the candid nature of the President as he pledged to tackle the challenges confronting the nation.
He stressed that the NPP MPs’ abstention from the Nation Address revealed the “hypocrisy” in the party, calling on them to forfeit their emoluments too as a matter of principle.
He also disclosed that the minority in spite of their sturdy disapproval of the President’s legitimacy benefit from the financial purse of the legislative body and so cited that an allowance to a tune of GHC 50,000 has been allocated to each MP to cater for their housing deficits.
“As they abstain from some of these activities, I’m sure it will be interesting if they tell their constituents that they will forfeit their salaries over the period that they have abstained from some of these parliamentary sessions…the NPP people should tell us whether or not they are going to forfeit their salaries and emoluments because some of their constituents don’t have the kind of luxury that they enjoy,” he said.
He however expressed excitement over the President’s first Nation Address saying he judiciously rolled out measures to curb the energy crises and through good governance his administration will provide high quality education, good healthcare, build infrastructure across the country in order to create a robust economy.
He was consequently elated; “by the fact that the President did not let us down. I am excited by the fact that the President has provided hope for the people of Ghana. Now, the policies of the NDC are hinged on four pillars. The first pillar is putting the people of Ghana first…I necessarily will encourage everyone to support the President because things will get a lot better if we are all putting our shoulders to the wheel.”
He further slammed the minority for flaunting placards on the floor of Parliament since to him, the minority caucus “exhibited indiscipline. They exhibited an attempt to insult the millions of Ghanaians…”
He therefore issued a stern warning to the minority members saying; “They can scheme their scheme. That they can plot their plot. That they can dream their dream of making Nana Addo, President, that will not happen because President Mahama is a truly elected President of the Republic until any court says otherwise.”
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
No comments:
Post a Comment