Minority Leader is sleeping on the job – Lawyer

Source: adomonline.com  -  An Accra-based legal practitioner, Nana Adjei Baffuor Awuah is calling on the Minority in Parliament to change its leader.

According to him, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu lacks the leadership skills to champion the cause of Ghanaians in parliament as an opposition leader.

Lawyer Baffuor Awuah’s comment comes after many political pundits complained about the docile nature of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority in Parliament.
Their own party stalwart, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, complained that the Minority has shirked its responsibility to civil society organizations. A position the leadership has vehemently denied.

But on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Monday, Nana Adjei Baffuor Awuah opined that the perceived non-performance of the Minority could be traced to its leader.

He could not fathom why the Minority have only adopted press conferences to respond to government when there are other radical means to make their voice heard.

Citing the performance of past Minority leaders like the late Hawa Yakubu, J.H. Mensah and Alban Bagbin to buttress his point, the legal practitioner said Kyei Mensah-Bonsu come nowhere close.

Baffuor Awuah said if the Minority wants to remain relevant to Ghanaians, then they must change their leader.

In a quick rebuttal, the Minority leader expressed shock at the submissions of the legal practitioner.

He stated that Baffuor Awuah’s call is a clear attestation that he does not know about parliamentary procedures.

“It is not for him [Baffuor Awuah] to say I should be changed, it is for my colleagues and party to decide,” he stressed.

Kyei Mensah-Bonsu said he is not a repository of knowledge and that it is not a bother if he is changed because “NPP will survive without me”.

“If Baffuor Awuah is not happy with my work, that is his business because a lot of people also appreciate my work.”

In support, his deputy, Dominic Nitiwul called the bluff of the legal practitioner.

He described his 'unwanted suggestion' as a ploy to divert attention from the incompetent Mahama-led administration.

“Is the Minority leader the president? What has he done? I think this is an agenda setting,” he stated.

Dominic Nitiwul urged party members to treat the call with the contempt it deserves and focus more on the odds of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.