Muntaka Mubarak, the Chief Whip for the Minority in Parliament has reminded Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress that national interest must always take precedence over party interest.
“I don’t want to go into the merit or demerit of the party interest. If we don’t take care party politics will overrun our own values and constitution and our national interest,” Muntaka told Adom FM.
This is after Sammy Gyamfi accused him and the leadership of the minority of advancing their parochial interest at the expense of the party’s.
“Some have sold their conscience but ours is intact. And we can work together to rebuild the party from the ashes of 3 March 2021, which I call ‘Black Wednesday’ – our day of self-inflicted shame,” Mr Gyamfi said in the post, adding: “This is the time for us to insist on the right changes in the leadership of the NDC group in parliament or forget about them completely.”
“The current leadership have lost their moral authority to lead and are not fit to sit on the front bench of the NDC side of the house. More importantly,” he noted, “it’s about time we understood that we don’t have any NDC Speaker of Parliament”.
“No, we don’t!” he stressed, in reference to Mr Bagbin, complaining: “We have a Speaker who rode on the back of the NDC into office to pursue his own parochial agenda and nothing more. You trust them at your own peril,” he warned members and supporters of the NDC.
But Muntaka says the priority of parliamentarians is to do the bidding of their constituents which encompasses members of all the political parties and not just the NDC.
He says that in the institution of parliament, the demands of a particular party are treated as a piece of advice and when it clashes with the national interest, it is imperative that MPs place the country over their party.
He reminds Sammy Gyamfi again that when he took the oath of office, it was a pledge to uphold the constitution of the country and not the constitution of the NDC.
“Every member of parliament swore an oath to uphold the constitution. The mandate of every member of parliament overruns his party. The mandate of every member of parliament is above the interest of the party because after the election you don’t only represent the party but everyone in your constituency. Your party is just one leg so anything from your party is just an advice. You should remember that the buck stops with you the MP.”
“You swore an oath to your own conscience and values. As a Whip, one of my duties is to get everyone to appreciate the position of the party and to be able to factor it but the final decision lies with every member,” he said.
Muntaka becomes the second NDC member in parliament to respond to Sammy Gyamfi after Speaker Alban Bagbin.
Babgin in an Accra FM interview told the NDC Communications Officer that he represents the entire Ghanaian populace and not just the NDC in his current role.
“Now, I don’t belong to any party. I’m Speaker of Ghana. I’m not a Speaker of NPP. I’m not a Speaker of NDC. I’m Speaker of Ghana. And I must hold the balance. So, decision-taking; no. My duty is to ensure that there’s an even playing field and the decision is taken and I announce it. That is all,” he explained his role.
“And, so, if you sit down and look at me and think that maybe you were my girlfriend before [and, therefore] I should give you an advantage over another whom I’ve never met, please, then don’t come to me; you won’t get it. Let’s finish; after work, we can do that business together. Not when I’m working. That’s my nature; that’s how I’ve been up to this time and, so, it’s unfortunate that these things are happening”, he said.
