Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has been explaining the significance of Ghana’s eighth Parliament within the context of the number of seats on both sides of the House.
According to him, the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP and opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, having 137 members apiece indicates that Ghana’s democracy is growing.
Speaking on Accra-based TV, the gentle giant as he is popularly referred to, explained that the equal numbers in the House show that the Ghanaian voters are discerning and can change their minds at any time if they feel dissatisfied with the performance of their representatives.
To him, individuals who want to serve in political office should learn something from how the voting pattern of the last election.
“I believe it is a clarion call to us to appreciate that people will change their voting patterns within just a short space of four years.
“People who went in voting massively for one party and then within four years, they seem to be reversing their opinion. I felt that was democracy at work and it should be a warning to those of us who would offer ourselves to be considered by the people,” former president Kufuor said.
He added, “Truly, I believe the real sovereignty is in the people, they are the sovereign authority with the right to choose who should lead and right to also withdraw their selection.
“What happened should be taken as a serious thing to aspiring politicians, that if you want to lead the people, understand them, and be on their right side, you shouldn’t underrate the populace or the electors. Lincoln once said you can fool some of the people some time but not always, the day of reckoning will come and then they will throw you out,” former President John Agyekum Kufuor stressed.
Prior to the 2020 polls, the NPP controlled 169 seats as against the 106 by the NDC.
The governing party lost 37 seats in the last elections to now control 137 seats, the same number for the NDC wit an independent lawmaker who sits and does business with the Majority Caucus.