The Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Rasheed Draman, has advised the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to work quickly to restore unity amongst its members of parliament following the resignation of Osei Kyei-Menasah-Bonsu, going into the December 7, 2024 elections.
The majority leader of the NPP and MP for the Suame constituency, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, tendered his resignation as the party’s leader of government business in parliament yesterday, February 21.
It was unclear what led to the resignation of the NPP legislator. However, media reports over the past week have suggested a “proposed change in the parliamentary leadership” of the party. The report also divided the Majority Caucus members, with some advocating for the reshuffle and others against it.
The proposal, which was on the agenda paper of the party’s National Executive Council’s (NEC) February 19 crunch meeting, was later dropped abruptly, according to Andy Appiah-Kubi, a member of the NEC.
Reacting to the circumstances in the lead-up to the resignation of Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on TV3’s Ghana Tonight programme, Dr. Draman maintained that “leaders in parliament do not resign.”
“I just hope that they can close their ranks very fast,” he said, indicating that “they [the NPP] are trying to do something that has not been done in this country…break the eight.
“Breaking the eight, you need everybody, and this is not the time to begin to have cracks. This is the time to begin to tighten the unity that they have to the extent of a strong bond,” he added.
- ‘I won’t support any changes in parliamentary leadership’ – Andy Appiah-Kubi
Also, a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) and MP for the Asante Akim-North constituency, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, emphatically stated that he will not support any move to change the party’s current leadership in parliament.
Meanwhile, a few hours after his resignation announcement, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was named as the 2024 Manifesto Committee chair for the Bawumia campaign ahead of the December 7, 2024 elections.