Haruna Iddrisu’s spell as leader of the National Democratic caucus in Parliament came to an end on Tuesday, January 24, 2022 when the Asiedu Nketiah-led national executives announced that it had rang changes in the leadership of the minority caucus.
From January 2017, Haruna Iddrisu has served as the face of the NDC in Parliament but a palace coup as it could be described has seen him and two others being replaced in the minority leadership.
Even within the NDC, the decision which was signed by General Secretary Fifi Kwetey has shocked many as they had no idea what the executives were planning.
As confirmed by Murtala Muhammed, the members of the Minority caucus had no prior discussion with the party’s leadership about the decision to oust Haruna Iddrisu, Muntaka Mubarak and James Klutse Avedzi and replace them with Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Kwame Agbodza and Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah respectively.
The decision has spurred heated discussions and GhanaWeb highlights the confirmed and reported reasons behind the move by Asiedu Nketiah and his cohorts.
Party Restructuring
According to the National Chairman of the party Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the move is part of a process of restructuring that has been going on for the past year.
“We started more than a year ago, we started at the branch level. We have since done elections in about 40,000 branches and then from there we proceeded to the constituency level. We are done largely with all the constituencies, we have done regional elections and we just completed our national election and the next is to look at our leadership in Parliament. That is what we have just done,” he said.
Election 2024
Asiedu Nketiah also explained that the alterations are necessary to keep the party in the driving seat for the 2024 elections.
“We know for instance that going into election 2024, the economy is going to be the major battle ground and so many of the debates will focus on the economy. So you better put your best man in economy forward that is what we have done.
“We also looked at energy. You know the petroleum and electricity challenges, so we needed to settle on Kofi Armah Buah, our former minister to be the Deputy Minority Leader.
“The other area is infrastructure, Kwame Agbodza being our man in infrastructure should play a key role that generally is what informed the changes,” he added.
Regional Balance
Asiedu Nketiah also said that the party wanted to ensure that there is regional representations in its leadership in Parliament .
He stressed that, “the Change has nothing to do with the performance of the leaders at all. What it has a lot to do about is that the environment is changing, so if you are a football coach and the team you are facing and the game style they are adopting is not in keeping with the players you have put out there, you will do yourself a lot of good.”
Reported Reasons
Whereas Asiedu Nketiah has made mention of the above reasons, GhanaWeb has also discovered some factors that might have influenced the decision to oust Haruna Iddrisu and his cohorts from the leadership.
Party elements, backbenchers unhappy with Haruna and Muntaka in hung parliament
Within the minority caucus and the party, there is a feeling that the impact of the hung parliament is not being felt and that is largely due to the decisions and indecisions of Haruna Iddrisu and Muntaka Mubarak.