“Neophyte” OPK’s Control Over Mensah-Bonsu, Others Shocking – Asiedu Nketia

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has said he was in shock how a new Member of Parliament(MP) for Mpraeso controlled the big guns on the Majority side of parliament in last Friday’s walkout spectacle.

“He[Davis Ansah Opoku] acted completely in ignorance. I was very surprised to see a neophyte give orders and all of them followed including very experienced lawmakers like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and others,” Asiedu Nketiah popularly known as General Mosquito told Kasapa Fm.

The Mpraeso MP also known as OPK who instigated the Majority walkout has defended his action saying he only engineered the walkout to forestall the opposition General Secretary’s agenda against the approval of the 2022 Budget.

The majority walked out after the Speaker’s decision not to grant their demand to expel the NDC General Secretary from the public gallery. This was after the Speaker had asked the Minister of Finance and other Ministers out of the chamber of Parliament.

However, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia insisted he was within law to sit at the public gallery other than the Lobby to observe proceedings as a citizen.

“I have been in parliament for a long time and I understand the rules and the standing orders of the House very well. I had no business sitting in the Lobby because I was not invited. So I didn’t go there in my capacity as a General Secretary, but as an ordinary citizen which gives me the right to remain where the public is supposed to be seated[public gallery].”

Political watchers say the walk out was strategic given that the NPP did not have the numbers to approve the budget.

Parliament will reconvene today, Tuesday, November 30, 2021, as the House continues processes to either approve or reject the 2022 Budget statement and Fiscal Policy.

On Friday, November 26, the Minority Caucus voted to reject the budget after the Majority Caucus staged a walkout.