Minority boycotts State of the Nation Address

The situation created the impression that contrary to assurances given that the group would be present, they would absent themselves.

But by 9.30 a.m. a few Minority MPs had trickled in, giving the indication that they would keep their word.

By 10 a.m. when the President arrived at Parliament House, a reasonable number of Minority MPs were in the Chamber.

When President Mahama arrived and prayers were said, the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, invited the Majority and the Minority leaders to join him to escort the President into the Chamber, and when the two left their seats and walked with the Speaker out of the Chamber, the impression was created that there would be no boycott.

Suddenly, and to the surprise of all present, the Minority MPs started walking out of the Chamber, and as they did so they pulled out plain sheets with "Stealers" boldly printed on them.

As they strode out of the Chamber, they were booed by the Majority, some of whom dashed to take over their seats, as if to say, "Good riddance."

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the Minority's desertion of the Chamber just before the President entered was in furtherance of their resolve not to recognise the President as the elected leader of the country.

He said the group might, during the debate on the address, walk out, sit in and decline to comment or embark on any other action to drive home its position.

He said the Minority knew the state of the nation and did not need the President to tell them the situation.

The Minority, he said, had prepared its own documents on the state of the nation and would make it known to Ghanaians next Tuesday.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu indicated that the boycott of the address did not mean the group had boycotted Parliament, adding that although they did not  partake in the events on the floor of the House, they engaged in other parliamentary businesses, such as committee meetings.

"Parliamentary business is not confined to listening to the President alone. So anyone who says we should not be paid because we have boycotted the state of the nation address does not understand parliamentary business," he said.

The Minority leader said Ghanaians had misconstrued the statement  made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 to mean the party would not boycott the address, adding, "What we said was that we would not boycott Parliament and we have not. We have participated in committee meetings today."

Asked if the Minority would participate in the debate on the budget or in any debate on a bill introduced into the House by any minister of state, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu replied in the affirmative, saying the budget and laws passed by the House would outlive the President and, therefore, it was imperative that the Minority participated in debates on them.

He accused the media of hypocrisy and double standards, saying that on February 7, 2007, the then Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) boycotted the State of the Nation Address delivered by then President J.A. Kufuor because a court of competent jurisdiction had jailed Mr Dan Abodakpi, a member of the NDC and wondered why the media had not termed that a dereliction of duty at that time.

Story by Mark-Anthony Vinorkor