By Franklin Asare Donkoh
The immediate past Minority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, refused to use a seat allocated to him by the current minority leadership.
The lawmaker on Thursday, February 9, 2023, chose to use the first deputy Speaker of Parliament’s seat, who was presiding at the time.
Mr. Iddrisu explained that the seat allocated to him by the current leadership belonged to the MP for Asutifi South, Mr. Collins Dauda, who is one of the few senior colleague and member of minority caucus hence he cannot accept to use the seat.
He gave the education when making a contribution to a debate on the African Union Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation, also known as the Niamey convention.
He subsequently apologised to the second deputy Speaker of Parliament and stated that he couldn’t have taken the seat offered to him because of his respect for elders.
“Mr Speaker, forgive me if I had to assume your chair, there was whether I should take over from Collins Dauda, and I told them that Collins is senior by age, and I am somebody who is well trained at home, so any other chair is acceptable to me. I am still the elected Member of Parliament for Tamale South,” Mr. Iddrisu reiterated.
The leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) made some changes to its leadership in Parliament, which saw Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson replace Mr. Haruna Iddrisu as the Minority Leader on January 24, 2023.
Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle also replaced Ketu North MP, Mr James Klutse Avedzi as the Deputy Minority Leader while Kwame Governs Agbodza replaced Asawase MP, Muntaka Mubarak Mohamemd.
