Minority action ‘disgraceful, reprehensible’ - Majority
The Majority have described the staged walkout by the Minority in Parliament last Thursday as a disgraceful and reprehensible act that needs to be condemned by Ghanaians.
They said while the Minority reserved the right to vent their protest against matters that did not serve their interest, the manner in which they acted had set a very bad precedent for Ghana’s democracy.
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For that reason, they expressed the hope that the Minority would refrain from engaging in any debate on the State Of the Nation Address (SONA), failure of which the Speaker should bar them.
Some of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) who stated this in an interview with the Daily Graphic soon after the President had delivered his SONA are the MP for Akyem Abuakwa South, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea; the MP for Ablekuma West, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, and the MP for Ofoase/Ayirebi, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
Prejudging the President
In the view of Mr Atta Akyea, the staged walkout by the Minority was a disgraceful move that reflected their impatience.
He said the Minority should have given the President the opportunity to speak first before initiating such an action.
“They should have given the President the opportunity to speak and if the content of the address is not right, they could say that this is one of the cheapest SONAs they have ever heard.
“But they prejudged what the President was about to say and did not have the political patience to listen to him first before this horrible act.
“I believe it is unprecedented and very disgraceful, and it tells us one thing, that those who went out do not have anything as a credible alternative for governance,” he said.
Making a comparison between the Majority and the Minority, the Minister of Works and Housing said when the NPP were in opposition for eight years and came back to power, they never treated Presidents Professor Evans Atta Mills and John Mahama in the manner the Minority had treated President Akufo-Addo.
“Their action was disgraceful and it is going to have a huge negative impact on their way forward politically, and it means that when a man would not give his neighbour respect, he should not be entitled to one,” he said.
Reprehensible act
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful described the staged walkout as a reprehensible act that ought to be condemned by all right-thinking Ghanaians as it showed no respect not only to the President but also the Speaker, legislators and Ghanaians in general.
“If the President said something which they objected to and walked out then it would have made sense, but this walkout is senseless and no amount of justification will wash, particularly when the leaders led them to do that.
“But I hope that they will carry out such an act to its logical conclusion and will not dream of participating in the debate on the address they did not listen to, else that will be the height of hypocrisy.
“If they do participate in the debate, we will ask the Speaker to bar them because by their conduct, they have declared that they are not interested in the work of the House,” the Minister of Communications said.
Terrible precedent
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said while the Minority’s walkout did not take the shine off the SONA, such an act was irresponsible and unfortunate.