The immediate-past Majority Leader in Parliament and MP-elect for Suame, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has explained why the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) will have hectic time in Parliament following the huge loss of several seats to opposition NDC.
He is express sadness that some of the party’s best, knowledgeable, and experienced legislators have been kicked out from Parliament.
Speaking in an interview with Accra based Kasapa 102.5FM Thursday, Hon. Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu stated that one area that the NPP has lost heavily which disturbs him is the Finance Committee of Parliament.
“In Parliament, we do a lot of work on finance, agreements, loans and the preparation of budget etc. One person we’ve lost in the NPP which I find very unfortunate is Dr. Assibey Yeboah who was the Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee. He lost at the NPP primaries, do we have a good replacement? Someone we had in mind to fill that void was Prof. Gyan Baffour who is also hugely knowledgeable and experienced in Finance matters but he also lost the Wenchi seat and so he’s not coming back to Parliament. Another person who could have also stepped in is the former MP for Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa, Effah Baafi who also lost at the primaries. So seriously with the NPP fold in Parliament on the Finance side, we’ve lost. We now have to have a re-construct of that side of Parliament, who’s going to be where. That is on the Finance side.”
He added: “In terms of Legislation which is one of the core functions of Parliament, one person who in my absence helped a lot due to his knowledge was the MP for Offinso South Ben Abdellah Banda who also lost during the NPP primaries hence not coming back to Parliament. So in terms of Legislation, we did not help ourselves as a party. So going forward we need to reorganize and re-strategize in order for us to reposition the party in Parliament. Truth be told, from the initial stages the NPP will have things tough in parliament, but who knows, a star may emerge among our current set of MPs. Except that in Parliament, regardless of your potential, a first-timer can’t be made a Committee Chairman because he or she will have to learn the procedures to make him effective and efficient. But nonetheless, we have a new parliament and we must make the best out of what we have.”
Some 28 seats occupied by incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs have been snatched in their parliamentary contest on Monday.
