<<Print>>

NDC members of Parliament have come under fire from some members of the public who are outrage at the way they lend support to their colleague NPP MPs to embarrass and insult President Mills, members of his government and his government. The outrage is coming in the wake of the attempt by the Minority in Parliament to drag the Head of Communication at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho, before the Privileges Committee of Parliament for allegedly using insulting language to describe the action of two NPP MPs who tried to drag the name of President Mills in the mud. During the Alhaji & Alhaji current affairs programme on Radio Gold last Saturday, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. Managing Editor of The Insight expressed anger at t he tacit support some NDC MPs are giving to their NPP colleagues who are bent on dragging Mr. Anyidoho before the Privileges Committee. To buttress his point, Mr. Pratt recounted an encounter he had with an NDC MP. He said the MP bluntly told him that NDC MPs support the dragging of Mr. Anyidoho before the Privileges Committee because when it comes to the matter of MPs privileges, the House was united. The ace-journalist slammed this tacit support for the Minority by the Majority especially since the Minority had committed far worse �crimes� than what they are accusing Mr. Anyidoho of committing. He said in any case, if MPs behave irresponsibly, they ought to be told without mincing words that they have behaved irresponsibly. He asked what NDC MPs did when the Minority leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu described President Mill�s ministers as gangsters and asked if this is not a case of irresponsible talk. Again, he said the Minority leader behaved irresponsibly when he lied to Ghanaians that Mr. George Owusu of EO Group of Companies fame was stripped naked by security agents in front of his family. Mr. Pratt asked why NDC MPs did not take their colleague to task for this obvious lie which was irresponsible of an MP. Mr. Pratt�s sentiments were shared by some Ghanaians this paper talked to. Many of them opined that many NDC MPs seem not to be interested in protecting the integrity of the President or the government. Their only interest is their privileges and fringe benefits. �When we were the Minority in Parliament, the Majority NPP MPs did as they pleased with our MPs looking on forlornly. Now that we are in government, one would think that they would be proactive. Sadly, they are not. They do not care even if the President, Vice President or the government is being insulted,� said Phyllis Tagoe of Tantra Hills, in Accra who is an NDC activist. A businessman at Osu also in Accra said NDC MPs seem to be interest only in their parliamentary work and so do not care about the party on whose back they rode into the august House. More anon