Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul is dreading the mockery from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) should the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu be defeated in Saturday’s parliamentary primaries.
“God forbid, but imagine what will happen if the leader doesn’t come back as the candidate elect. Can you imagine the ridicule our party will go through? Can you imagine what we would have to go through? Is it now that we are going to look for a new leader to choose?” Nitiwul lamented.
Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has appealed to the NPP to retain him as the parliamentary candidate for the Suame Constituency.
[contextly_sidebar id=”vHX5LqGb9g4UITEzNHefHOV3f5RqRbe0″]But his appeal was met with mixed reaction from party members.
However, speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, Dominic Nitiwul said there was a need for both the NPP and NDC to protect their leaders in Parliament.
“It is important that we protect the position of the leaders of the various caucuses in Parliament, whether Minority or Majority, particularly a party that wants to win an election.”
He said” “I’m sure and I’m convinced that anybody who will rise to that position, we should find a way of protecting them otherwise we will set ourselves for ridicule by our opponents.”
Dominic Nitiwul observed that when Abraham Aidoo, former Majority Leader of Parliament for the NPP, was defeated, “the NDC ridiculed us to the extent that we ourselves had no defense.”
He said the party should take a cue from that and forge ahead adding that “I think we as a party we should be learning from history.”
The Deputy Minority Leader said though it was justifiable for party members to contest, he explained that, leaders should be exempted since it “gives the party a bad picture and It’s not good for us.”
He lamented that the Minority Leader “is the leader of 123 leaders of Parliament. That person is expected to work for the next one and a half years leading us, and the constituency decides that we are throwing him out, it doesn’t speak well at all for the party, it’s going to hurt the fortunes of the party.”
Meanwhile, the former Majority Leader, Abraham Aiddo had reiterated a similar sentiment saying “the seat of the leader of the House is a high position, you don’t just get there, you have to earn it. And for one to be there means he’s gone through a lot of milling, training and grilling.”
Abraham Osei said “if for any reason the party thinks that person must not be there, there must be a way of getting him out quietly but if there is no reason and the person wants to be back in Parliament and has the proven capacity, he needs to be protected.”
Several persons including the Kwadaso MP, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto and an NDC MP, Alfred Agbesi have supported calls for Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu to be retained.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana