President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the Minority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament(MP) for the Asawase Constituency, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has lost his substance to continue serving as a legislator and so must be replaced.
The president was addressing a gathering of Zongo chiefs and a section of the people of Asawase on the second day of his tour of the Ashanti region when he made the remarks.
“I know it’s not yet time to campaign for the upcoming elections but you benefit more if you start the work early” he said.
The president further told the gathering that, “Muntaka has stayed too long in the Parliament House; he has nothing new to do there so allow another person to also go there and try so that we can realise the development that we want”; the crowd responded with loud cheers.
The President’s comments are however, a deviation from the initiative of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, in which the minister, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has been working with civil society to get the high attrition rate in Ghana’s Parliament in check.
Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu the Member of Parliament(MP) for Suame, who would be seeking a seventh term believes that, “Parliament is as strong as its members make it”, and describes the high attrition rate as “a shameful blot on Ghana’s political system”, calling on political parties to protect sitting MPs from losing their seats to new entrants.
Some of his constituents are however calling for his replacement; they say there is not much to show for, for the 24 years that he would be representing them in Parliament.
Our checks however indicate that, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would let him stand unopposed in the upcoming primaries.
There are other MPs on the ticket of the NPP serving currently in Parliament who are seniors to Muntaka Mubarak but are likely to seek reelection in 2020.
Adansi Asokwa MP, Kobina Tahir Hammond and Assin Central MP, Kennedy Ohebe Agyapong both entered the house in 2000; five years before Muntaka.
Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak entered Parliament in 2005 after winning a bye-election to replace the late Dr Gibril Adamu Mohammed.
Barring any changes, he would be facing off with Alidu Seidu, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Asokore Mampong for the second time.
Both men were chosen by their respective parties by popular acclamation to contend for the Asawase seat in the 2020 parliamentary elections.
Nana Akufo Addo also advised the youth of Asawase to be submissive to authority and listen to advice from the elderly so that there would lasting peace and development in the Asawase area.
