Majority, NDC executives lobbying to retain Bagbin in Parliament
The Majority in Parliament and the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have vowed to ensure that Mr Alban Bagbin, the Majority Leader in Parliament is retained in the Legislature in the 2016 elections.
This followed publications suggesting the astute politician was contemplating bowing out of the august House to make room for other good hands in the party to contribute their quota.
The Ghana News Agency’s investigations have revealed that the majority caucus met over the issue, and decided that ‘it did not lie in the mouth of Mr Bagbin’ to decide to seek re-election or not.
They thus conferred with the national executives of the party and it was admitted in that interaction that the Majority leader had brought significant improvement to the leadership of Parliament and the management of the affairs of the House, and that it was premature for him to exit the legislature because they needed him to mentor new lawmakers.
Consequently, the caucus over the weekend sent a delegation to the Nadowli/Kaleo Constituency to engage the constituents on the matter.
The delegation, the GNA gathered, met the constituency executives and appealed to them to support the caucus’ and party decision to retain Mr Bagbin in the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic come 2017.
The constituency executives also expressed similar sentiments and assured the delegation that they would lend their support to ensure that Mr Bagbin went back to Parliament.
They said that the presence of the delegation in the Constituency showed that the Nadowli/Kaleo lawmaker was “indeed a national asset” and stated, “We will ensure that this country exploits his rich experience”.
Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, the MP for Banda, who led the delegation, told the GNA that the caucus was pleased that the party’s constituency executives had pledged to rally the people to vote massively for Mr Bagbin to retain him in Parliament.
He said, “We in the majority know what we have, and no army changes its General when going to war. The short history of this country teaches us that anytime a government changes its Majority Leader in Parliament, it loses the election.”
Other members of the delegation were of the view that Mr Bagbin’s return to the House would boost the morale of the majority in Parliament.
They said members would be assured that an experienced parliamentarian would be mentoring and grooming them on the legislative workings.
Source: GNA