Bagbin Leads NDC In Parliament

Today can authoritatively report that Nadowli Kaleo Member of Parliament(MP), Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, is returning to the front bench of the Majority side as Majority Leader and leader of Government Business. The position became vacant after President John Mahama nominated the current occupier, Dr. Benjamin Kumbour, for the position of Minister for Defence in a Ministerial reshuffle announced early Wednesday. The decision to make him the MajorityLeader, source told Today was arrived at after a meeting between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwarts including party General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and members of the Majority Caucus in Parliament. The NDC big men came to the meeting armed with other names from the Flagstaff House which the President was said to have penciled down. Mr. Bagbin is part of the new faces this paper had hinted were suggested to the President after a meeting with two NDC old guards who suggested the urgency of substitutions. Names including that of Wa West MP, Joseph Yileh Chireh, Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrissu were all rejected at the meeting following the conclusion that Mr. Bagbin had the right experience to lead the Majority side of the House. Thus after the less than an hour meeting with NDC MPs, �a popular decision� was taken to name Mr. Bagbin to succeed Dr. Kumbour who heads to the defence ministry. The former Minister for Water Resources Works and Housing under the Mills Administration will be no stranger on the Majority front bench, having previously served for well over a year as Majority Leader under the same government. Earlier, the trained lawyer had led Minority NDC MPs in Parliament as the Minority Leader between 2001 and 2008 under President John Agyekum Kufuor�s regime.