IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe says the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) must be cautious in the way it manages the recent disagreements within the Minority Caucus in Parliament.
According to him, poor management of the situation will lead to an implotion and will not auger well for the party.
“The NDC should be careful not to implode over this or and they should really be careful with the management of this issue,” he said speaking on Citi TV’s weekend current affairs programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, April 3, 2021.
There are speculations that the minority is facing a leadership crisis with some NDC loyalists calling for an immediate overhaul of the caucus leadership following a seeming dispute over the approval of some of President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees.
The Caucus has also received heavy criticisms for doing very little to put the ruling government in proper check.
The approval of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta as Minister for Finance recently brought the whole disagreements out with some members of the NDC chastising their representatives on the Appointments Committee for doing a poor job.
Isaac Adongo for instance had insisted that his side should have rejected the nomination of Mr. Ofori-Atta.
The MP for North Tongu, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also resigned from the committee.
Even though the exact reason for Mr. Ablakwa’s resignation is not yet known, there are claims that it is linked to disagreements with his leadership concerning actions of the Appointments Committee.
Some Members of the party have criticized Ablakwa and Adongo over the public posture.
But Franklin Cudjoe, quizzed whether the NDC as a party frowns on its members expressing their independent view.
He however added that the happening within the NDC are usual of political parties.
“…Is the NDC suggesting that none of its Members of Parliament (MPs) can break ranks or can think on their own and by themselves? I guess those are the crucial questions we should be asking otherwise it is the normal politicking that is ongoing I am sure that the NPP is also going through something similar and this is not going to be the last time it is going to happen, and I’m not sure if we should be worried about this necessarily.”
Meanwhile, a former leader of National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentarians, Cletus Avoka, has said that the recent disagreements between the Minority caucus and the party have been resolved by the leadership of the party.
The Zebilla legislator disclosed that the party after Parliament went on recess summoned the leadership of the caucus to address the internal grievances that had created an impression of a serious crisis and have consequently addressed all issues.
He attributed the qualms to a “breakdown of communication” between the party and its members in Parliament.
“It’s not so much of a conflict between party leadership and the NDC caucus in Parliament or one party official taking on the party position particularly following the approval of ministers. So far the Minority in Parliament has been acting in tandem with the party leadership and have had meetings and I think that we are now in one accord.”
“At the beginning, there was a communication gap between the caucus and party leadership that accounted for some of these public statements some officials might have made. Certainly, we the MPs know we owe our allegiance to the party which is supreme and nobody in Parliament or outside is bigger than the party, so we are committed to respecting the views of the party.”
