I will bow out of Parliament in 2024 – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has indicated his intention to re-contest the Suame constituency seat in 2020 contrary to speculations that one of the longest-serving Members of Parliament was exiting.
In a radio interview on Accra based Okay FM Thursday morning, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said it was rather his opponents who were spreading that falsehood that he was not contesting again in 2020.
He said God-willing, it is in 2024 that he intends not to re-contest the Suame seat.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has been representing the people of Suame in Kumasi since January 7, 1997.
He has served in several capacities in Parliament including Minority Leader and currently serving as Majority Leader cum Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
Speaking to Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on Okay FM, which was monitored by Graphic Online, the Suame MP who said he had just arrived in Kumasi Thursday morning after receiving the US Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ms Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said granted he was strong and alive, it is only in 2024 that he intends to bow out of Parliament and insisted this is something he has declared publicly and many of his colleagues were aware.
The man who would be spending 24years in Parliament after 2020 had indicated in the past that he nearly bowed out in 2016 as a result of pressure from his wife who felt he had had enough and so he “must leave the kitchen because the heat was too much.”
“I nearly acquiesced but I was prevailed upon by the current President [Akufo-Addo] who advised me not to leave him and the party in the lurch.”
President Akufo-Addo is reported to have pleaded with Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to reconsider his decision because he was going to need him to hold Parliament together to anchor his presidency since his absence in the current Parliament would have created a big vacuum in NPP and therefore asked to stay until that gap was filled.
To Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Parliament is a place to learn but unfortunately “some MP’s just pass through Parliament but Parliament does not pass through them.”
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu related himself to Ms Nancy Pelosi, the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives who for 31 years has been representing the people of San Francisco as well as the legendary John Lewis who has been representing the people of the 5th District of Georgia since 1986.
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh
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