The Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has said that the selection of the presidential candidate and running mate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 general elections portrays the party’s lack of vision for the future.
John Dramani Mahama and Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, he noted, do not inspire any hope for the future, considering the fact that the former Ghanaian leader has only one term to spend in office, should the NDC win the 2024 general elections.
Similarly, the former Minister of Education, who is also a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang is a retired educationist who may not have the energy to withstand the rigidities of the country’s political landscape.
Rounding off the debate on President Akufo-Addo’s Message on the State of the Nation on the floor of Parliament on Monday, March 11, 2024 Afenyo-Markin, who is also the NPP MP for Effutu urged the people of Central Region to reject the NDC, since they failed the region when they had the opportunity to govern the country from 2009 to January 2017.
“Mr. Speaker, if you even look at how they paraded their leadership, clearly, they have not put in place a visionary leadership for the country’s long-term future. The flagbearer, constitutionally, has a just a term.
“The flagbearer has gone for a running mate. Under normal circumstances, they should have given us a running mate who will give a future to Ghana like we have given a flagbearer who represents the future of Ghana.
“You have brought a running mate who retired from UCC as VC, came to the Ministry of Education – performed abysmally, the E-Blocks she could not complete them. She did only 29 and today you said the running mate should be the future of this country, Mr. Speaker, when they could not even introduce the landing beach project for the Central Region.
“They failed the Central Region and today they say we should allow them. It’s not possible; we can’t allow you. Dr. Bawumia represents the future of this country”, he noted.
The Majority Leader’s continuous hard-hitting of the NDC spurred an uproar on the floor of the House with some of the NDC MPs resorting to interjections and heckling with the hope that he would veer off attacking their leadership.
The Second Deputy Speaker and independent MP for Fomena, Andrew Asimah Amoako, who presided over the sitting, refused to recognise any Member from the Minority side to interject the debate of the Majority Leader just as he did for the Minority Leader.
However, the situation got worse when some of the NDC MPs, having not been recognized by the Speaker, incessantly beat their tables to send a signal to the Second Deputy Speaker to compel Afenyo-Markin to withdraw some aspects of statement against the leadership of the NDC.
Deputy Minority Whip and NDC MP for Banda, who was finally recognized by the Second Deputy Speaker to voice out the concern from his side, appealed to Asiamah to give a listening ear to his people who were on their feet, to draw his attention to the issue, since his continuous refusal to hear from them was the reason for the disturbances on the floor.
However, his request was denied with the Second Deputy Speaker directing the Majority Leader to continue with his debate.
This directive did not stop the NDC MPs from heckling and interjecting the Majority, compelling Mr. Asiamah to suspend the House for an hour, to enable the leadership of the House to retire to conclave to address the issue.
Upon return, calm prevailed with the Majority Leader withdrawing some aspects of his statement against the leadership of the NDC.
He continued to refer to the NDC as a party that lacks vision and also failed the people of Ghana when they had the opportunity to govern the country.
By Stephen Odoi-Larbi, Parliament House
