Politics of Monday, 21 November 2022

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Akufo-Addo forced Prof. Oquaye on NPP MPs – Leading NPP member

Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye play videoFormer Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye

Dr Amoako Baah, a leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of being the reason the NPP lost the speakership of Ghana's Parliament despite having the majority caucus.

He alleged that Akufo-Addo forced the NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) to sponsor Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye as their candidate for the Speaker of Parliament position, even though they did not want him because of his actions in his first term as speaker. 

Dr. Amoako Baah, who made these remarks during a Neat FM interview that GhanaWeb listened to, claimed that the president is a bully and that his appointees and NPP MPs are afraid to challenge his directives.

"The NPP MPs did not want him (Professor Oquaye), and the opposition also did not like him because they were always fighting with him. The NPP MPs said another person should be the speaker, but he (Akufo-Addo) said that Prof. Oquaye is the one he wants," he said in Twi.

"He (Akufo-Addo) has turned himself into a bully, and that is why things are not going well in his government. If they go to meetings, everybody wants to know what the president wants before they voice their opinion. If you are not careful and you say something contrary to what he wants, he will start directing his anger at you," he added.

Dr. Amoako Baah said that he used to support the president, but some members of the party kept warning him of this character, but he refused to listen to them. 

"Some people even said that he cannot be president, but we don’t accept this. I went to the house of a leading member of the NPP who was part of the people opposing him to urge them to stop, and they almost beat me up.

"All the things that they warned me about are happening now," he added.

Prof. Oquaye lost the speakership elections of the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana to the candidate sponsored by the opposition National Democratic Congress, Alban Bagbin, because some NPP MPs did not vote for him (Prof. Oquaye).

He got 136 votes out of 275 in a secret ballot even though the NPP formed the majority caucus of 138 (137 NPP MPs and an independent candidate).

Watch the interview below:



You can also catch GhanaWeb TV’s interview with Elvis Afriyie Ankrah below:





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