Parliament resumed sitting for the year this week, on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, and already it has been filled with many major happenings and big headlines.
Already, the leadership of the Minority Caucus had seen a major shakeup, with the Haruna Iddrisu-led administration being ousted, which many received with shock.
With that out of the way, when parliament resumed sitting, there had to be a determination on how the new administration of the Minority, led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and the outgone leaders, will sit in the Chamber of Parliament.
Ato Forson speaks for the first time in parliament as Minority Leader:
The Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, also made an official statement before the house as a Minority Leader, his first since his new appointment.
In his address, he thanked the party and his colleagues for allowing him to serve while commending Haruna Iddrisu for his distinguished public service since 2017.
“On January 7, 2009, I took the first step in this very chamber towards becoming a representative for the people of Ajumako Enyan Essiam and contributing my quota to Ghana’s parliamentary democracy. Fourteen years on, from a fresh legislator, I have the unique honour of being entrusted with the leadership of the Minority Caucus in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic.
“I wish to convey our profound gratitude to my party, the great National Democratic Congress, and our colleagues on the minority side for this opportunity to serve at an even higher level and help shape the trajectory of this Parliament. I want to express, on behalf of my colleagues, our profound appreciation and thanks to the immediate past Minority Leader and my senior brother, the Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, for his many years of distinguished public service and his sterling leadership of the Caucus since 2017,” he said.
He added that the caucus remains firm, resolute, and principled in its journey to discharge oversight duties.
“Both gentlemen have been the very backbone on which the Minority Caucus has leaned all these years. Their masterful perspectives on the affairs of this house have enhanced the work of the caucus and Parliament as a whole. We in the minority are privileged to have you in our caucus.
“To you, my colleagues in the Minority Caucus, we pledge to offer fair and unbiased, balanced, consultative, and principled leadership in our journey to broaden the frontiers of parliamentary oversight and hold the Akufo-Addo & Alhaji Bawumia governments to account in a manner that helps deliver public goods,” he said.
He said he is confident and can assure that the minority side means business and is up to the task.
“We are simply unwilling to countenance any more bad governance, and we will insist on the highest levels of performance from all government officials and institutions over whom this Parliament has oversight and jurisdiction. We are unwilling to be part of any negligence of duty of any sort, and neither shall we tolerate any lackadaisical attitude towards the work of this house by public officials. We will maintain the highest levels of vigilance and offer intense scrutiny of government programs, policies, agreements, bills, and legislative instrument,” he said.
