Vice President and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has thrown a jab at the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its caucus in Parliament for their Machiavellian tactics in the legislature.
He argued that the NDC and its Members of Parliament (MPs) cannot use political tactics to manufacture parliamentary majority for themselves.
Addressing a huge crowd of NPP supporters in Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region on Saturday as part of his constituency-based campaign tour, Dr. Bawumia told the NDC MPs that if they want to have the majority in Parliament, they should go to the polling stations, to the constituencies, and campaign to win the required number of seats to constitute majority in Parliament.
“It is very important that you vote for me Dr Bawumia, but it is even more important that you vote for Joseph Frimpong because we want the parliamentary majority. The current state of 137 – 137 in the house has resulted in the NDC doing everything possible to frustrate government business.
“Two days ago, they did something in Parliament after which they claimed they are the majority in Parliament. I believe you have heard it. They only had a 24-hour majority, the shortest-living majority that I know of in history.
“I want to let the NDC know that if they want majority in Parliament, they should come to the polling stations. they should come to the constituencies, win an election and then go to Parliament. You cannot sit in Parliament and manufacture a majority for yourself. we will meet them at the constituencies, we will meet them at the polling stations,” the Vice President and presidential candidate of the NPP reiterated.
‘NPP to win majority seats’
Dr. Bawumia assured the teeming NPP faithful that the governing party will win the majority seats in the 2024 general election.
“We will meet them in the constituency and will meet them at the polling station and what I can assure you from what I know after visiting over 200 constituencies, campaigning on the ground and seeing the data, if we were voting today, the NPP would have a decisive majority, not a majority but a decisive majority in Parliament. We will win at the polling stations.
“But we will not conduct the elections today, it will be conducted on December 7 and if it goes on the way we are seeing today and we all come together by midnight on December 7, all of you here will hear that the NPP has a decisive majority in Parliament,” Dr. Bawumia emphasised.
Background
On 17 October 2024, Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin in a ruling following an application (statement) by the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, declared four parliamentary seats vacant.
The lawmakers and seats affected by the Speaker’s ruling were Peter Yaw Kwakye-Ackah, NDC MP for Amenfi Central in the Western Region; Mr Andrew Asiamah Amoako, Second Deputy Speaker and MP for Fomena in the Ashanti Region, Independent; Mr. Kwadjo Asante, NPP MP for Suhum in Eastern Region; and Cynthia Morrison, NPP MP for Agona West in the Central Region.
However, lawyers of the Majority Leader, Mr. Alexander Afenyo-Markin proceeded to the Supreme Court on Friday, 18 October 2024 with an ex-parte application, praying the apex court of the land to stay the enforcement of the Speaker’s ruling.
Accordingly, a five-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, granted the ex-parte motion and order the parties to file their statements of case within seven days to allow the court to deal expeditiously with the substantive application before them seeking interpretation of Article 97 (1) (g) and (h) of the 1992 constitution.
