Opinions of Thursday, 21 February 2013
Columnist: Jackson, Margaret
By Margaret Jackson
February 20, 2013
The unchallenged authority that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the twice defeated NPP Presidential Candidate has enjoyed since his humiliating defeat at the 2012 Elections seems to be crumbling under his feet.
Following his defeat at the polls and his refusal to concede defeat, Akufo-Addo and his running mate Dr Mahamadu Bawumia and NPPs Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey have gone with a petition to the Supreme Court to throw away 4.6 million votes in order to pave the way for Akufo-Addo to be declared the President of Ghana.
But due to the selfish nature of Akufo-Addo, he has been able to whip the NPP Parliamentarians behind him to boycott anything that bears the name of the duly elected and duly sworn-in President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama.
Akufo-Addo, who has been acting as the master manipulator and using the NPP leadership to his advantage, has so far been very successful in compelling the NPP Parliamentarians to boycott any parliamentary proceedings that has something to do with President Mahama.
That is why the NPP Parliamentarians apart from boycotting the swearing-in ceremony of President Mahama also boycotted the vetting of the 37 nominated ministers of government under the guise that since Akufo-Addo and the two others are contesting the results of the 2012 Presidential Elections, it would not be good for them to do anything related to President Mahama.
But it seems the NPP Parliamentarians have read between the lines and realized that Akufo-Addo is leading them on a roller coaster ride which is why they have decided to brush Akufo-Addo and the party’s leadership aside to attend the State of the Nation address today.
The sudden U-turn by the NPP Parliamentarians to attend the address is a huge slight against Akufo-Addo and the NPP leadership who have whipped the NPP Parliamentarians behind the line much against their conscience and will. Most of the NPP Parliamentarians who have been grumbling secretly clearly do not like the humiliating acts Akufo-Addo has been taking them through because they have their constituents’ interest to serve.
The defiance by the NPP Parliamentarians to brush the directive by the party’s leadership aside and attend the State of the Nation address also shows that Akufo-Addo’s shaky authority on the NPP is crumbling. Many in the party have seen that the case mounted by Akufo-Addo is a bogus case; therefore, they have decided to ignore him and do the right thing for their constituents.
It would be recalled that Akufo-Addo’s staunchest ally, Ursula Owusu was part of the NPP group who lamented against the party’s decision to compel the parliamentarians to boycott the vetting of ministers.
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