Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says parliamentary boycotts is not exclusive to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) as it is being portrayed.
According to him, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is equally guilty of the same ‘offence’ and cannot therefore assume a holier than thou attitude in the current situation.
NPP MPs have come under intense criticism, especially from their majority colleagues after they staged a walkout when President Mahama was about to deliver his maiden State of the Nation Address.
The minority MPs boycotted the sessional address carrying placards with the inscription stealers in support of their flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo and two others challenging the legitimacy of the president.
But their conduct has attracted a lot of criticisms from leading members of the NDC some of whom have described the minority actions as barbaric and disrespectful to the Speaker of Parliament and President John Mahama.
However, speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Thursday, Kwaku Baako said the NDC has no moral authority to condemn the NPP.
He indicated that the NDC MPs boycotted President John Kufour’s State of the Nation Address in 2007 after their colleague MP for Keta Dan Abodakpi was jailed by a competent court of jurisdiction.
“NDC boycotted Parliament when ET Mensah was arrested by the BNI, when NHIS was being passed and when June 4 was removed from the status a public holiday” he added.
He noted that if the ruling party shows courage and admits that the series of boycotts they adopted in the past was wrong, then they will gain the moral high ground to advise the NPP to abandon that method.
The social commentator said the NDC has suddenly developed amnesia when they embarked on series of boycotts and are now being selective.
“In Ghana especially in the Fourth Republic we have legitimized the method of boycott as part of parliamentary practice and both NDC and NPP cannot absorb themselves from it”.
Kwaku Baako said the only way to end the undesirable boycotts is for both sides to admit that parliamentary boycotts are not the best option.