Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, MP, Asawase.
Accra, Ghana (GS). The National Democratic Congress, NDC, has removed two key Members of Parliament from their leadership positions in Ghana’s Parliament as it prepares to hold its delegates congress later this year to elect a candidate for the 2024 presidential contest.
The marginalization of the two influential MPs has been greeted with mixed feelings by some rank-and-file members of the NDC who see the action taken by the national leadership of the party as a slap in the face of the Northern Caucus in Parliament.
The two key Northern MPs who have been dismissed from their leadership positions in Parliament by the NDC are Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South and Minority Leader, and the outspoken MP for Asawase, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, who served as the Minority Whip in Parliament.
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South constituency.
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu was a student political activist during his education at the University of Ghana. He later became the National Youth Organizer of the NDC from 2002 to 2010, and also served as the Communications Minister during the late President John Atta Mills and John Mahama-led administration. His replacement, according to a press release issued by the NDC National Secretariat on Monday 23rd January 2023, is Cassiel Ato Forson, MP for Ejumako-Besease.
Kwame Governs Agboza, MP for Adaklu in the Volta Region replaces Hon. Mubarak Muntaka, MP for Asawase in the Ashanti Region, as the new Deputy Minority Whip in Parliament.
Another casualty of the NDC Parliamentary Leadership reshuffle is James Klutse Avedzi, who has been replaced by Hon. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembele in the Western Region, as the new Minority Leader.
A source close to the top apparatus of the NDC said the decision to replace the current leadership in Parliament was to ensure that the party leadership in Parliament reflects the makeup of the entire country, instead of the current dominance of Northerners and Voltarians who appear to have taken over almost all the key positions in Parliament.
The immediate past Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, is said to be harboring interest in running against ex-President John Mahama for the presidential slot of the NDC in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. Other candidates who have expressed interest in running for the NDC presidential slot include Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi, and Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana.
