Minority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) must elect national executives who can strengthen its opposition campaign and work alongside the party’s parliamentary caucus to hold the government accountable.
He said the incoming leadership must coordinate its efforts with the Minority in Parliament and the party’s flagbearer to mount a more concerted challenge to the government’s performance.
The Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP was speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the NPP’s National Delegates Conference in Kumasi on Saturday.
Mr Annoh-Dompreh said the parliamentary caucus needed the support of the party’s national leadership to deliver on its mandate.
“We need leaders that will complement our efforts. We are determined in Parliament to prosecute government, and therefore we can’t do it all alone,” he said.
He called for closer collaboration between the national executives, the Minority and the flagbearer, arguing that a united front would strengthen the party’s political and parliamentary efforts.
“We need the national leaders to come work with us. Then we can have a full complement and then join forces with our flagbearer,” he said.
Mr Annoh-Dompreh said the party needed a new crop of executives with a combative approach to political engagement and the determination to confront national issues.
“We are expecting a crop of leaders who would have a war-like thinking,” he said.
He was quick to clarify, however, that his call for a “war-like” mindset was not an appeal for violence or the use of weapons.
“Don’t misquote me. I am not saying we are going to take arms,” he stressed.
Rather, he said, the party’s approach should involve intensifying political engagement, challenging the government on national issues and strengthening parliamentary oversight of its commitments to the public.
“We are determined to do battle, determined to tackle national issues, determined to take the fight to the government, and also to properly execute oversight in terms of the deliverables that the government is supposed to deliver to the people,” he said.
The Minority Chief Whip also expressed confidence in the conduct of the NPP’s national elections, describing the process so far as orderly.
More than 7,000 delegates are participating in the conference at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, where the party is electing its national officers.
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