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The majority leader of the 7th parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will have a tough time in the 8th parliament.
According to the Suame MP-elect, the NPP has lost some important MPs in the elections who were core figures to the parliament.[ads2]
About 30 NPP MPs have lost their seats to the NDC during the just ended 2020 general elections.
Hon. Kyei-Mensah Bonsu in an interview on Kasapa FM, stated that the NPP will have some difficulties at the begining of the 8th parliament due to the loss of some great personalities in the parliament’s Finance Committee.[ads3]
“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”, he said.[ads4]
“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.
He continued that,”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.”
Meanwhile, the NPP flagbearer Akufo-Addo has retained the presidential seat for the next four years after pulling 6,730,587 votes (51.3%) whiles competitor and flagbearer of the NDC John Dramani Mahama amassed 6,213,182 (47.3%).[ads5]
