Change Minority Leader�Lawyer Awuah

An Accra-based legal practitioner, Nana Adjei Baffuor Awuah has questioned the leadership style of the Minority in Parliament and called for change. According to him, the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu lacks the leadership skills to champion in the cause of Ghanaians in Parliament. Lawyer Awuah�s comment followed that of some political pundits who complained about the docile nature of the New Patriotic Party�s (NPP) Minority leadership in Parliament. The NPP stalwart, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko has also complained that the Minority has shirked its responsibility to civil society organisations, a position the leadership has vehemently denied. Speaking on Asempa FM�s �Ekosii Sen� programme on Monday, Nana Awuah opined that the perceived non-performance of the Minority could be attributed to its leader. He wondered why the Minority has only adopted press conferences to respond to government when there are other radical means to make their voice heard. He cited the performance of past Minority Leaders, such as the late Hawa Yakubu, J.H. Mensah and Alban Bagbin to buttress his point, and said Mensah-Bonsu comes nowhere close. Nana Awuah, said if the Minority wanted to remain relevant in the country�s political dispensation, then they should change their leader. However in a rebuttal, the Minority Leader expressed shock at the submission of the legal practitioner. He stated that Nana Awuah�s call was a clear attestation that he knew nothing about parliamentary procedures. �It is not for him [Baffuor Awuah] to say I should be changed, it is for my colleagues and party to decide,� he stressed. Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said he was not a repository of knowledge and that it was not a bother if he should be changed because, �NPP will survive without me.� �If Baffuor Awuah is not happy with my work, that is his business because, a lot of people also appreciate my work�. Dominic Nitiwul, the Deputy Minority Leader called the bluff of the legal practitioner. He said, Nana Awuah�s �unwanted suggestion� was a ploy to divert attention from the incompetent Mahama-led administration. �Is the Minority Leader the President? What has he done? I think this is an agenda setting,� he stated. Mr. Nitiwul urged party members to treat the call with the contempt it deserved, and focus more on the misdeeds of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).