By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The former Minority Chief Whip in Parliament and Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asawase constituency in the Ashanti region, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, has assured Ghanaians that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will use its new and overwhelming Majority in Parliament responsibly.
He said the party’s Caucus in Parliament has learnt great lessons from past experiences from being in Majority and the minority and that the numbers would not be abused to approve just any Bill.
Speaking to our GBC’s Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Nicholas Osei-Wusu, at his Aboabo Number Two Office in the Asawase Constituency, where he and his executives monitored the EC’s official declaration of the election results, Alhaji Muntaka asserted, “for the 1st time in the history of the 4th Republic, we may be getting the two-thirds, and when we get the two-thirds, I hope we’ll use it judiciously.
We’ll use it to change the most difficult things that would have been very difficult to do but that will rather strengthen the democracy that we’ve and will stabilise this country so that, in the unlikely event that, one day, any leader would want to abuse the system the way these guys have abused it, it’d serve as a check.”
‘I pray that we don’t get complacent, we don’t get overzealous, and we don’t take Ghanaians for granted because of the overwhelming number to say that, no matter what we want to do, we’ll do.
We’ll keep strict to our promises and work so hard and make the Constitution changes that are only necessary to strengthen our democracy to safeguard public safety and the democracy of this country,” he pledged.
The MP expressed surprise at the margin of victory of the NDC’s Flagbearer, John Mahama.
“I must admit, this is humbling! We worked so hard. We knew we were in to win this election. But, frankly speaking, I didn’t expect this kind of tsunami kind of result.
So now God is on our side. My prayer is that God will guide us so that we don’t take for granted this trust that Ghanaians have reposed in us,” Alhaji Muntaka noted.
He expressed confidence in the competence and ability of Mr. Mahama, based on his experience both in government and in opposition, to work so hard to leave a huge legacy after his reign.
Asawase Constituency is one of the strongholds of the NDC in the Ashanti region. The December 7 Parliamentary election had the incumbent MP, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka of the NDC, contend with a former Staffer at the office of the Vice President, Manaf Ibrahim of the NPP, and three others for the seat.
Alhaji Muntaka won the parliamentary polls to retain the seat for the NDC, albeit with a reduced margin, to retain the seat for the NDC in the 9th Parliament.
Shortly afterwards, the victory celebration by NDC members and supporters in the area was nearly marred by violence.
This follows a misunderstanding over the construction of some temporary structures around the Aboabo Number Two football park within the vicinity of the local cluster of basic schools by a private developer.
The misunderstanding led to sporadic gunshots necessitating the swift intervention of police reinforcements before tensions would calm down.
This therefore impacted the victory celebration, even though some of the residents were undeterred by whatever was happening as they went ahead to express their excitement in various forms and shapes.
