The National Democratic Congress, (NDC) has given a new reason for reshuffling its leadership in Parliament. 

The National Chairman of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia says the former leadership in Parliament had difficulties working with Speaker Alban Bagbin. 

According to him, these challenges ought not to have existed in the first place since the party “struggled” to get the Speaker elected. 

The NDC Chairman speaking at a press conference in the United Kingdom over the past weekend said the challenges prevented the party from taking full of advantage of having its Speaker elected. 

“Why did we struggle to get an NDC person elected as a Speaker of Parliament? There are certainly some advantages and those advantages can be tapped into when your leadership is cooperating with the Speaker. 

"So we cannot have a situation where NPP leadership is cooperating with the Speaker, and our NDC leadership has challenges cooperating with the Speaker.”

“And if you are given a party whose leadership in Parliament is not working together, what will you do, you make the changes or you resign, and I’m not about to resign,” Mr Asiedu Nketiah said.

The party on Tuesday, January 24, petitioned the Speaker of Parliament about a change to its leadership in Parliament. 

According to the Party, the decision is in the best interest of the party. 

Per the changes, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has taken over from Haruna Iddrisu as the new Minority Leader. Ellembelle MP, Kofi Armah Boah will replace James Klutse Avedzi as Deputy Minority Leader.

Kwame Agbodza becomes the Chief Whip for the opposition side and will be deputised by Banda MP, Ahmed Ibrahim and Ada legislator, Comfort Doyo Ghansah respectively.

However, some NDC legislators expressed their opposition to the decision describing the development as a “coup d’etat” and questioning the rationale behind the change.

But the Council of Elders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the aggrieved members to remain calm. 

According to the council, they are urgently taking steps to address concerns and petition from the aggrieved MPs regarding the change.

This information was contained in a press release issued and signed by the Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu on January 28, 2023.

In the press statement, the Council of Elders acknowledged “receipt of a petition from some members of the NDC Parliamentary caucus regarding recent appointments to leadership positions.”