Akufo-Addo hopeful of cooperation between NPP, NDC in Parliament

President Akufo-Addo is hopeful of better cooperation between the Members of Parliament of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party in the 8th Parliament.

Speaking on Kumasi based-Opemso Radio yesterday, January 11, 2021, President Akufo-Addo said the government will see Parliament as a partner in development.

“I see it as a good sign that the two sides are prepared to sit down together and see the way forward. We will deliberate on issues together.”

“We have only one Ghana, and we don’t have anywhere else to go. So we can’t have a situation where the government is going in one direction and then Parliament is going in the other. That wouldn’t help the smooth running of the country.”

President Akufo-Addo expects that at every stage in the House, work will be done by consensus.

“The way Parliament has been constituted this time around, we will work on a consensus basis which means that at every occasion, there will be consultations on both sides on the way forward.”

The election of Mr. Bagbin, the NDC nominee, as Speaker marked the first time under the 4th Republic that Ghana had the President and Speaker of Parliament from different parties.

The President is yet to comment directly on the chaotic scenes that marked the election of the Speaker as tensions between legislators escalated into scuffles.

Most of the chaos in Parliament stemmed from a stand-off between the NDC MPs and the NPP MPs over the voting processes for the election of a new Speaker.

The NDC insisted on a secret ballot per law in the belief that there were some NPP MPs planning to vote for the NDC’s candidate.

For hours, scuffles broke out, led by the NDC Caucus’ Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who tried to make sure his opposing Whip was not cross-checking the ballots of NPP MPs.

At a point when the NDC MPs were unhappy with the process, they ransacked the voting areas and snatched the ballot box.

Armed military and police personnel then stormed Ghana’s Parliament to confront the NDC MPs.

President Akufo-Addo has also not commented on the military presence in Parliament.