You win some and lose some – Speaker consoles defeated Members of Parliament

Source: Naa Sakwaba Akwa  

  23 June 2020 2:02pm

The Speaker of Parliament has urged members of the House who lost their seats during the governing NPP’s Parliamentary Primaries on Saturday June 20, 2020 not to lose heart.

Professor Mike Oquaye who was speaking after Members of Parliament returned to the Chamber following the primaries asked the legislators to commit to the business of the House despite their defeat.

JoyNews’ Kwesi Parker-Wilson reports that the Speaker in congratulating the winning MPs also used the opportunity to comfort those who lost.

“Those who won congratulations, those who did not, better luck next time. In fact, one thing we should all realise is that sometimes we lose, sometimes we win, sometimes we win sometimes we lose.

“Once you win a fight, one day or the other, prepare to lose one someday and that is the name of the game,” Prof Oquaye said.

Some 40 sitting NPP MPs who stood for elections to be retained as the party’s parliamentary candidates going into the 2020 elections lost their primaries.

From left; Collins Owusu Amakwah, Mark Assibey Yeboah, Ben Abdalah and William Quaitoo have all lost their seats

That number is almost 25% of all the 169 NPP MPs in Parliament. Simply put, almost one in every four NPP Member of Parliament lost Saturday’s contests. That’s even after about 65 others sailed through uncontested. The casualties could have been more if it was a free-for-all fight across all the 169 constituencies, JoyNews’ Joseph Opoku-Gakpo noted in an analysis.

He indicated that the list of losers included Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah; Chairman of Food and Agricultural Committee, Kwame Asafu Adjei; Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee, Seth Acheampong; Chairman of Works and Housing Committee, Nana Amoako; Chairman of Poverty Reduction Committee, Godfred Tangu Bayon; Chairman of Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah and Chairman of Communications Committee, Fredrick Opare Ansah.

Also, Chairman of the Education Committee, William Quaitoo; Chairman of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, Ben Abdallah; Chairman of Government Assurances Committee, Collins Owusu Amankwaah; Chairman of the Gender and Children Committee, Dr. Kojo Appiah Kubi; Chairman of the Trade and Industry Committee, Nana Amaniampong Marfo and the Chairman of Youth and Sports Committee, Alex Agyekum also lost.

But Speaker says these losses should not dampen the MPs’ spirits so far as matters of the House are concerned.

“We must act as statesmen and assume some circumspection in all we do and say. In fact if nobody lost, nobody would have been here.”

He urged the MPs who have lost to speak to their followers and learn to “cool them down and let them know that we understand the enterprise of politics and that itself is good for the political hemisphere and posterity.”

Prof Oquaye added that being out of Parliament does not mean the affected MPs can no longer serve the country.

He believes these MPs can do even better outside Parliament while serving in government, if given the chance.

“Some have done that [served] more strongly outside Parliament than inside it. And so I would say let us all attend to the business of the House with all seriousness so that if fortune smiles on the fortunes on my left, some of you can still continue to play an important role.

“And if fortunes smiles on the people on my right, you will also be able to play an important role in the next government. I wish you all well and let us play according to the rules of the game, God bless you,” the Speaker said.