Asante Akyem North lawmaker, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, has said he is rather gaining popularity for his consistency in defending what he believes in, rather than being notorious for opposing certain stance of the party.
His comment was in reaction to an assertion that he has built the penchant of opposing certain interests of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in recent years.
The development was after some Members of Parliament have kicked against attempts to change their leadership in Parliament.
There were reports of a possible reshuffle in the Majority leadership. Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was said to have been replaced by his Deputy Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin.
But the decision which was item 5 on the agenda for the meeting was skipped, after which First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, addressed the media to announce that the caucus was not in support of the idea of changing the leadership.
Appearing on TV3’s Ghana Tonight Tuesday, February 20, 2024, the Asante Akyem North MP who led the 88 Majority lawmakers to demand the ousting of then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, indicated that he defends what he believes in and does not oppose personalities as being perceived by some people.
He told Alfred Ocansey that “I’m a member of the National Executives Committee of the party and I responded to an invitation to attend the meeting and incidentally I met with a lot of other colleagues who are Members of Parliament and members of the Committee so it’s not like it was an orchestrated attempt to swamp the meeting.”
He held that “instead of saying I’m gaining notoriety of leading some uprising against certain interests of the party, why would you not say I’m gaining popularity for being consistent in what I believe in? And I don’t rise up against anybody. I take a position and I defend it and I want to be seen as being consistent with the beliefs that I hold.”
The MP explained further that the discussions that inundated the media about an attempt to oust the existing leadership of the Majority was not true since the current Standing Orders of the House does not support it.
“Today variously, people have discussed there was an attempt to remove our leaders. I didn’t see it as such. I thought it was an opportunity for the party to explain the new position of the statute that has been passed.
“We have passed a new enactment of the standing orders of Parliament which is in force and I’m sure the leaders of my party wanted to explain the new position which is contrary to precedent and precedent follows the law.”
He pointed out that they picked information on social media and wanted the official position of the party leadership on it, either to affirm or deny it.
“There were publications on social media but we didn’t pick information from social media as the official statement that has come from the party. So it was either the party was going to explain matters in respect of social media publications or going to take a position and defend it and solicit our opinion,” he explained.
‘Item 5’ was to discuss new standing orders not to change majority leadership – Andy Appiah-Kubi
