Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini
The Tamale North MP, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini has lambasted National Executives of the opposition party for poking their nose in parliamentary affairs.
According to the MP who feels victimised by his own members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) whenever he speaks his mind, the national executives have reneged on their duties and seeking to remotely control the Minority Caucus in Parliament.
He believes that instead of the national leadership concentrating on their mandate of running the party alongside the party MPs, they rather turn around attempting to coach members of the Minority Caucus on their duties in Parliament.
Expressing concern that his criticism of the National Chairman, General Secretary and other executives could cause disaffection for him, he maintains that the executives ought to concentrate on complementing the efforts of NDC Parliamentarians instead of coaching them.
He pointed out that the National Executives current posturing does not augur well for the electoral fortunes of the party in the forthcoming general elections.
“This is something I have said at the risk of sometimes being ostracized by the party. But party leaders are not chosen to manage Parliament. They are not chosen to be coaches of Parliament. They are chosen to manage the party alongside Parliament. So when you have debates in Parliament and the Parliamentarians win that debate, you expect the National Organiser, and the Women’s Organiser and the Chairman and the Secretary to be massing up people on the streets to complement what Parliament is doing,” Suhuyini stated on Pan-African TV’s programme “Alhaji and Alhaji”.
He believes that the conduct of the National Officers ought to change if the NDC is serious about wresting power from the NPP in the 2024 general elections.
He added the elections will not be determined by Parliament or on the effort of only Parliament but through mobilizations and education done by officers in the streets, markets, and campuses.
He emphasised that “But what we have are like executives sitting on the bench coaching Parliament and that will not take us to victory. And like I said, I say this at the risk of sometimes being ostracized, but our party leaders must begin to wake up and understand that the 2024 elections will not be won by the work of only Parliamentarians. It will also be won by what they do on the streets, in the markets, and on the campuses”.
This red flag raised by Mr. Suhuyini after National Chairman of NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah led the newly elected national leadership to effect changes at parliamentary front of the Minority Caucus.
The dramatic change caused serious confusion in the NDC minority leadership in Parliament with former President John Dramani Mahama and other elders of the party stepping in to resolve the matter.
Though the party thought to have resolved the matter, it recently raised its ugly head in parliament after the approval of the newly appointed Ministers and Supreme Court Justices by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo where some members of the Minority voted to approve the appointees disregarding the party’s directive.
The MP appears not to be pleased with the current interference by the National leadership of the party in Parliamentary affairs, especially trying to dictate pace for the caucus.
By Vincent Kubi