First Deputy Minority Whip Ahmed Ibrahim believes that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) impending primaries could have a big impact on Ghana’s Parliament.
The loss of institutional knowledge and expertise is a significant difficulty, with eighteen of the current NPP MPs opting not to run for reelection.
Speaking of the NPP, Ahmed Ibrahim compared it to the recent NDC primaries, in which eighteen MPs were also removed. He was concerned about the trend of veteran politicians quitting Parliament.
The departure of Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, a seasoned politician who had training from the renowned JH Mensah, was expressly mentioned by him as a possible blow to Parliament’s ability.
“The exit of Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who was trained by J.H Mensah, are you saying it is not going to have a negative impact on parliament, it will. As for representation, you will get somebody to represent you but as for replacement, you cannot replace the institutional memory and capacity of the exiting MP and that is how parliament is going to be negatively affected. We take you, invest in you and throw you out.”
He went on to say that one factor in their decision to go is the government’s underuse of seasoned MPs. Using Joe Ghartey and Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi as examples, Ibrahim emphasized their unfulfilled potential and dearth of important positions in the administration.
“You see Joe Ghartey, you see Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi which post is he holding, zero. Joe Ghartey which post is he holding, zero. I can mention the names of the seniors to you. Joe Ghartey was a former Attorney General and a former deputy speaker but he is there, his party is not using him so he sees himself as being underutilised. And do you think that when that happens he will contest again, he will not.”
“Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi was a law lecturer from Tech, he is here, they left him and took a first-timer as an Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General in those days. Anyimadu-Antwi is still there, a law lecturer, with 16 years in parliament.
