The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has refuted assertions that the party is divided following the change in its parliamentary leadership.

According to him, the reactions being seen as a result of the reshuffle are normal and should be expected after any change, citinewsroom.com reports.

He added that the majority of NDC faithful have accepted the change in the party’s parliamentary leadership.

“The NDC is not fragmented at all; it’s still a very united party. The truth about every decision is that every change comes along with new gainers, so you will definitely have some reactions.

“But the change has been welcomed by the majority of NDC members across the country, I guess even here [UK]. The reshuffle has brought some new excitement on the front of NDC,” Asiedu Nketiah is quoted to have said while addressing NDC supporters in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The national chairman also explained that the party’s change in parliamentary leadership was long overdue.

“This leadership ought to have been reshuffled around March 2021. I explained to Ghanaians that, because of our court case, we didn’t feel like proceeding with that work. And I indicated clearly that it was a work in progress and that somewhere along the line, we will come out to indicate to Ghanaians who our next leadership will be.

“And so I’m surprised that people were surprised about the move. In fact, we were running late for the changes,” he added

The change in the leadership of the minority caucus of Parliament has led to some confusion in the NDC, with some members of the party, including some Members of Parliament, saying that the party’s parliamentarians should have been consulted before the move.

The NDC leadership has appointed the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, as the minority leader in the 8th Parliament of Ghana’s Fourth Republic. He replaced the MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu.

According to the NDC, Kofi Armah Buah, MP for Ellembele, will take over as the Deputy Minority Leader.

While Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP for Adaklu, will replace Asawase MP Muntaka Mohammed as the Chief Whip.

Ahmed Ibrahim, MP for Banda, has been maintained as the First Deputy Minority Whip, while Comfort Doyo Cudjoe-Ghansah, MP for Ada, is the Second Deputy Minority Whip.

Some MPs of the party have petitioned its National Executive Committee (NEC) to suspend the appointment of the new leadership of the party in Parliament.

The NDC MPs, including Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka (MP for Asawase), Dominic Ayine (MP for Bolgatanga East), and Cletus Avoka (MP for Zebilla), who are calling for the suspension, argue that the appointment was not made by any of the party’s decision-making structures but was imposed by just a few people.

IB/SEA