Alexander Afenyo-Markin has forecasted that several Members of Parliament (MPs) from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) may be sidelined due to the party’s commitment to establishing a lean government.
The Effutu MP argued that the NDC’s significant majority in Parliament might render many MPs redundant once the party fulfills its pledge to form a smaller cabinet.
He noted that the NDC has promised to restrict the government to 60 ministers, including full and deputy ministers.
In an interview with JoyNews, Afenyo-Markin explained that this plan could result in 35 to 40 NDC MPs securing ministerial appointments. However, with over 170 seats in Parliament, he warned that approximately 140 MPs might find themselves without substantial roles or influence in the legislative process.
“NDC has an overwhelming majority in parliament, they have promised a lean government. I can foresee a lot of their MPs being redundant. They promised 60 ministers, and out of that, some will have to come from Parliament because of the constitutional custom”.
“So they are going to have about 35 or a maximum of 40 MPs who will be ministers and deputy ministers if you take that out of their over 170 seats, they will have 140 MPs, who will be redundant in parliament and all they would have to do is come to parliament to do YEEYE”.
He also highlighted the growing tensions that might arise as these MPs are expected to manage their constituencies but with limited resources at their disposal.
He drew parallels to the challenges the previous administration faced when it became difficult to even fill the Parliamentary chamber with its MPs.
“These MPs will have demands over their constituents and they will be expected to go to their constituencies. The money will not be there because only a few have had, ministerial appointments and that is where their wars will start.
“We faced similar problems. It got to a point where it was very difficult to get our members into the chamber, where Mr speaker would say “Leader look behind you. Very soon I will tell their majority leader to look behind him, though you have 170 plus but your MPs will not be there.
