Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, has called for sober heads in response to the allegations of foul play by some National Democratic Congress parliamentarians following the side’s failure to reject the President’s ministerial nominees.
On Friday, six ministerial nominees were approved by parliament following a shock defeat of the NDC side in what many have described as a ‘betrayal’ of the party’s cause after more than 10 NDC MPs allegedly voted with the ruling party.
The NDC had been planning on rejecting the ministerial nominees as a way of forcing the hand of the President to reduce his size of government.
Following the incident, some NDC MPs as well as members of the general public have insinuated that the MPs that defected had done so because they were financially induced to do so by members of the ruling party.
The General-Secretary of the party, Fifi Kwetey, has since the shock defeat been publishing the names of MPs who he says had provided video and pictorial evidence of complying with the party’s directive to reject the nominees.
However, Murtala Mohammed says that approach may lead to a witch-hunting scenario where innocent MPs would be victimized in the process.
According to him, the party had failed to issue a clear directive that MPs were to take videos and pictures of their ballots, thus those who had done so, including him, had merely been taking initiative.
Therefore, the MPs who had not were not all guilty of the accusation.
“You see, we need to be very very careful. How about those who genuinely voted against these ministers but didn’t capture? Now if you’re going to be serializing this way on the basis of those of us who had video and those of us who took pictures, and some people didn’t take videos, they didn’t take pictures because there wasn’t a directive to do so, such a person would feel very unhappy. I think that we need sober heads to prevail under this circumstance,” he said.
He also urged other MPs to stop fueling the narrative that the defected MPs had taken bribes if they are not willing to name and shame those MPs publicly.
Latest Stories
-
CAFCC: Sports Minister to offer Dreams FC a ‘surprise’ package before Zamalek clash
6 mins -
CAF awards 3-0 win to RS Berkane, after Algerian customs confiscated their kits
21 mins -
AgriTech challenge pro holds first pitch
26 mins -
UNIDO commits to improving local rice standards
26 mins -
Suleja prison: 108 inmates on the run in Nigeria
29 mins -
We object to government’s plans to make BEST sole off-taker of Sentuo Oil Refinery – CBOD
37 mins -
Burkina Faso army massacred 223 villagers in revenge attack – HRW
46 mins -
Lebanese Community awards ¢100K in scholarships to 21 students at UniMAC
48 mins -
Germany detains alleged Nigerian mafia members
51 mins -
Manhyia Palace hosts royals, dignitaries from Ghana and beyond at special Awukudee
57 mins -
Meet the two Ghanaian entrepreneurs on a mission to connect 1 million African professionals to global companies by 2034
1 hour -
Celestine Donkor speaks on report of undergoing weight loss surgery
1 hour -
Music sensation Osb Swagah drops new single ‘Victory’
1 hour -
Bright Simons: The SML defence “falls flat”
1 hour -
We need long term macroeconomic stability to build a strong and vibrant economy – Deloitte Boss
1 hour