John Boadu
GENERAL Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu has described claim by Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Bagbin that Parliamentary majority went in favour of opposition National Democratic Party (NDC) as falsehood.
According to him, there is no iota of truth in such statement made by the Speaker to the Ethiopian Parliament since he has never stated anywhere that the NPP has devised tactics to get parliamentary majority in it favour.
He stated that the NPP had always maintained in it post elections comment that the party had won majority of the parliamentary seats. thereby claim that Parliament had gone in favor of the opposition NDC so the NPP had to resort to other means to win back some seats is untrue.
Mr Bagbin was reported to have told a delegation of the Ethiopian Parliament, the Ethiopian Political Parties Joint Council (EPPJC), on Wednesday, August 12, 2021, that John Boadu had admitted that Parliament had gone in favor of the opposition NDC, and so, the NPP had to resort to other means to win back some seats.
The media reportedly quoted the Speaker’s remarks as “They would have had a minority in parliament with a president. Their General Secretary even announced it, but they, last-minute, made some movements and some seats were snatched. That one is a statement of fact.”
However, John Boadu in a statement issued on
August 19, 2021 through his Press Secretary, Iddi Muhayu-Deen, emphatically described the Speaker’s remark as that of his own imagination.
Below is copy of the statement.
August 19, 2021
For Immediate Release
RE: NPP SNATCHED PARLIAMENTARY SEATS – Alban Bagbin
The attention of the General Secretary of the NPP, Mr. John Boadu, has been drawn to a publication on Ghanaweb and other news portals on the above caption, in relation to him, which publication had been attributed to the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin.
It was reported that the Speaker had told a delegation of the Ethiopian Parliament, the Ethiopian Political Parties Joint Council (EPPJC), on Wednesday, August 12, 2021, that, he [John Boadu] was on record to have admitted that Parliament had gone in favor of the opposition NDC, and so, the NPP had to resort to other means to win back some seats.
“They would have had a minority in parliament with a president. Their General Secretary even announced it, but they, last-minute, made some movements and some seats were snatched. That one is a statement of fact”, Bagbin was reported to have said.
The General Secretary had originally taken the view that this rather outlandish and preposterous claim did not deserve the dignity of a response from him. However, he had to reconsider that having in mind the revered position of the person making the claim, coupled with the fact that he was speaking to an international delegation, hence this response:
First of all, the claim by Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is a blatant falsehood as the General Secretary [John Boadu] had, at no point, made any suggestion or announcement to that effect. Indeed, records have it that, in all the post-election press conferences and media engagements, the NPP, through its General Secretary and other leading members, had always maintained that it had won majority of the parliamentary seats.
Mr. John Boadu recalls that at one of such press conferences, [which video has been attached to this release], to respond to the NDC’s false and absurd claim that they [NDC] had won majority seats, and so, it necessarily meant that, the party [NDC] ought to be declared as winners of the 2020 presidential elections, John Boadu pointed out to them that it was possible for a party to win more seats in parliament and yet lose the presidential elections.
The phenomenon of “skirt and blouse voting” which has become a regular feature in our general elections, make nonsense of the NDC’s proposition. The General Secretary, in analyzing the 2020 elections results, cited the case of the Central Region, where even though, the NPP won only 10 out of the 23 Parliamentary Seats, Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo won in 19 constituencies.
In other words, the NDC only won 4 constituencies in the presidential elections even though they won majority seats in the region. He equally made mention of Akwatia, Jomoro and some other constituencies in the country where the NPP lost the parliamentary but won the presidential.
As to how on earth Alban Bagbin and the NDC would interpret this analysis, which was based on facts and data at the time, to mean that Mr. John Boadu was conceding that the NPP had lost the nationwide parliamentary elections to the NDC, can only be a monumental defiance of logic.
In any case, are the two main political parties not in court challenging one parliamentary election results or another? So, going by their logic, is the NDC also resorting to unorthodox means to seek to illegally overturn the parliamentary results in those constituencies they are challenging?
Once again, for the avoidance of doubt, the General Secretary of the governing NPP made no such suggestion or announcement as claimed by the Speaker of Parliament. Accordingly, Mr. John Boadu, while advising the Rt Hon Speaker to rise above petty partisanship, is also entreating members of the general public to treat his recent unsubstantiated claim with all the disdain that it deserves.
Thank you.
Alhaji Iddi Muhayu-Deen
Press Secretary to John August 19, 2021
By Vincent Kubi