Vice-Chairman of Parliament’s Subsidiary Legislation Committee and member of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of allowing its parliamentary majority to undermine the principles of accountability and transparency it promised Ghanaians while in opposition.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, July 18, Mr Awuah said the NDC was suffering from what he described as the “curse of majority”, saying that the party’s control of Parliament had made it believe it could act without restraint.
“I want to make an appeal to my friends in the Majority, the NDC. They seem to be suffering from the curse of the majority in Parliament,” he said.
“That curse makes you think that you can do anything because you think you have the power.”
According to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP, the governing party was now maintaining the very practices it criticised when it sat in the Minority.
“That is what the NDC is suffering from. That curse is making them perpetuate the status quo and forget about the reset that they promised Ghanaians,” he stated.
Mr Awuah made the remarks while discussing the Minority’s decision to boycott a closed-door parliamentary engagement with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), insisting there was no justification for holding the meeting in camera.
He said that the Governor’s responses were already contained in public documents, making the exclusion of the media unnecessary.
“The other paper that contains the answers is a public document, and the media can take hold of it. So if the answers were already in public documents, what’s the point of not allowing the media to be there?” he asked.
Mr Awuah also accused the NDC of departing from a precedent it established while in opposition.
He recalled that when Parliament scrutinised the construction of the Bank of Ghana’s new headquarters, then Minority MPs demanded that the Governor’s appearance before Parliament be broadcast live.
According to him, the then Minority Chief Whip, Mahama Ayariga, insisted the proceedings should be televised because the opposition believed the hearing would expose alleged wrongdoing by the previous NDC administration.
However, Mr Awuah said the Governor’s testimony ultimately confirmed that the contract had been executed transparently.
“When the Bank of Ghana Governor came, they had egg on their faces because their expectations had been disappointed. He actually came to confirm the transparency with which the whole contract was executed,” he said.
He questioned why the current Majority had rejected calls for a similarly open hearing.
“If you had already set the precedent of having a televised Committee of the Whole meeting with the Bank of Ghana, why then do you deny the Minority the request?” he asked.
Responding to suggestions that the latest hearing involved sensitive issues relating to Ghana’s foreign reserves and exchange rate interventions, Mr Awuah maintained that the information had already been made public.
“The answers had already been provided, and the answers were in a public document. Therefore, there was no secrecy that made it necessary to hold the hearing in camera. The basis was not there,” he said.
Mr Awuah also criticised comments made by Bolgatanga Central MP Isaac Adongo during the controversy, saying he appeared to have forgotten the values the NDC championed while in opposition.
“He had forgotten where he was. Not long ago, he was in opposition. He was in the Minority and had promised Ghanaians that they were going to do things differently,” he said.
He further said that parliamentary oversight should not be reduced to partisan competition between the NPP and the NDC, insisting that the Minority’s actions are intended to protect the interests of all Ghanaians.
“We only stand in the gap for the people of this country. When you are addressing them, we shouldn’t make it seem as though we are reduced to a match between the NPP and NDC. What we are asking for, we ask for on behalf of Ghanaians, and they should be addressed accordingly,” Mr Awuah said.
MTTD clamps down on unauthorized sirens, strobe lights on Kumasi–Cape Coast…
