[ 2021-03-05 ]

Kwesi Pratt lashes out at NDC leadership in Parliament
Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Managing Editor of the Insight
Newspaper, has hit hard at the leadership of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament
for voting for, and thus, helping approve the
nominees of President Akufo-Addo who were on the
verge of losing their nominations.

According to him, the NDC leadership have taken
the support their members gave them for granted.

Speaking on Good Morning Africa on Pan African TV,
Pratt Jnr. said: “The leadership of the National
Democratic Congress not just in parliament, but
all levels, takes their members and their support
for granted.”

He said it is clear that some NDC members were
very unhappy by President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominations yet the NDC
MPs “went ahead and put their fingers in the
eyes of their supporters and told them to go to
hell”.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr. described the NDC MP's
affirmation of Mavis Hawa Koomson, Kojo
Oppong-Nkrumah and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto as “an
act of betrayal” of their party supporters.

“I have always said that in approving ministers,
the most important thing should be the national
interest: are the ministers competent enough to
handle their portfolios or not, and clearly it is
obvious that some of the people who were approved
are not competent enough to handle the portfolios
that they have been given," Pratt observed.

“You take the minister who has no idea about the
structure of her sector and yet NDC people have
made it possible for her to become a minister.
This is disgraceful and in fact, they refused to
listen to all the warnings which were sounded.”

He recounted a piece of advice he gave the
leadership of the party prior to the vetting of
the nominees and made it clear that “the party
will be in jeopardy” should the NDC MPs on the
Appointments Committee joke with the vetting.

“I told them in plain language that it will have
repercussions in the 2024 elections. Who is going
to risk his life and vote for you when you are
going to betray them in this manner?” he asked.

To him, “the NDC had deliberately stabbed itself
in the eye” and he does not think the party will
recover from the fatal blow it has delivered to
itself.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr. could not comprehend why some NDC
MPs voted for the nominees that do not deserve the
ministries they are going to take charge of.

“Nobody can convince me that NDC MPs did not
vote for these nominees […] there were near or
almost unanimous disapproval for Madam Hawa
Koomson, so how come she gets more votes than
Oppong-Nkrumah; how come, how come?” Pratt
stressed. “The fact [that] Hawa Koomson gets
more votes than Oppong-Nkrumah and Akoto Afriyie
[separately] shows that what happened in
parliament is unwholesome; clearly unwholesome. I
am embarrassed, disgusted by this behaviour.”

The nominees for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah;
Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hawa Koomson; Food and
Agriculture, Dr Owusu Akoto Afriyie, sailed
through after they were rejected by Parliament’s
Appointments Committee.

Per the Standing Orders of Parliament, the
plenary, or "Committee of the Whole," was required
to vote on the list.

After the secret voting on Wednesday, the nominees
were passed. The president will now swear them
into office so that they can officially start
work.

Some NDC leaders and supporters have given
scathing and robust criticisms about the Minority
leadership of Parliament and the Speaker, saying
they could have done more to advance the interests
of the NDC and the nation.

Source - Ghanaweb

... go Back