THE DEPOSED Minister of Youth and Sports, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has stated that he and other

National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) made Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin who he is today.

The MP for Asawase underscored that had it not been the immense contributions of NDC MPs, the Minister of Works, Housing and Water Resources would not have excelled as a minority leader for eight years.

“Because Hon Bagbin does not have the required experience to occupy the new position, we sacrificed our time and energy to work around the clock to ensure that the Nadowli West NDC MP succeeds,” he said.

The 37-year-old legislator disclosed that he had to forfeit his sleep in order to conduct research on sensitive issues to enable Hon. Bagbin perform on the floor of Parliament.

“Hon Bagbin is always doing the talking and people think that he does all the work, but this is not the case because we do the background works for him to present it as our leader,” he added.

In an interview with Angel Fm in Kumasi, Hon Muntaka said they assisted Hon Bagbin in diverse ways for him to excel in his position ,stressing that they would lend a hand to the newly elected leadership of the House.

He noted that no MP had been endowed with the experience and flair to serve effectively as both minority and majority leaders, explaining that “the positions were learnable.”

Hon Muntaka indicated that Hon Avoka and Hon Pelpuo have both demonstrated that given the necessary support they could adeptly serve Ghanaians at any capacity.

After several weeks of stalemate, the majority in Parliament finally succumbed to President Mills’ appointment of Hon Cletus Avoka and Hon Rashid Pelpuo as majority leader and deputy respectively.

Having toppled Hon Avoka and Hon Pelpuo as Ministers of Interior and Youth and Sports, President Mills without consultation, appointed the two to head the majority in Parliament.

President Mills appointed Hon Bagbin and Hon Enoch Teye Mensah as Ministers of Works, Housing and Water Resources and Employment and Social Welfare respectively.

As usual, this decision by President Mills created a lot of hulabaloo, as a section of the public, including MPs from both sides of Parliament suggested that President Mills had no authority to appoint the leadership of the majority in Parliament.

President Mills was compelled to summon a meeting with the NDC MPs with the view of reaching an amicable settlement of the matter.

A compromise could not be reached on the several occasions, but it took a magic to get the MPs to accept the decision of President Mills at a meeting on Wednesday.

Commenting on the issue, Hon Kofi Jumah, NPP MP for Asokwa in Kumasi, alleged that the MPs were lured by the President before accepting the appointment of Hon Avoka and Hon Pelpuo.

The former Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, who described the newly appointed leadership as greenhorns said, “Considering the experience of the leadership of the minority, they would give government a tough time in the House.”

From Morgan Owusu, Kumasi