Majority required in Parliament to speed up development - Asamoah Boateng

An aspiring national chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has said the current hung Parliament is affecting the government's ability to undertake developmental projects.

"Ghanaians have seen what a hung Parliament can do to us as a people and, therefore, we should do all we can to ensure that one party has a clear majority in Parliament in subsequent elections," he said.

He said for the ruling party to push its development agenda through, there would be the need for a clear majority in Parliament to enable it to fast-track the country's development.

The national chairman hopeful who was speaking in an interview on Kumasi-based Pure FM, used the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) bill as an example and said if the ruling party had a clear majority, it could have avoided all the noise and debate surrounding it.

“The proposed E-levy charge on mobile transactions could have been passed if the NPP had a clear majority in Parliament,” he said.

Development

Mr Asamoah Boateng, who is a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman West, said Ghana’s credentials in democracy should be a catalyst to accelerate the pace of development, adding that “Ghana has come too far to lag in development.”

According to him, Ghana should by now be discussing serious development matters in the area of technology and job creation.

"We have reached a point that social amenities should not be an issue for us to struggle to get for the people," he said.

Party structure

Mr Asamoah Boateng said for the NPP to remain in power, there would be the need to oil the base, which is the grassroot, to strengthen it.

He said if the grassroots was well resourced, they would work to ensure the party went beyond eight years in government.

Currently, he said, the party had base support of 42 per cent of the electorate in Ghana and that “makes it important for the party to be steady in government and in its internal structure.”

"The NPP structure is grassroots inclined and that makes it attractive to the ordinary people and, therefore, we should do our best to oil the base and make it work for us in government and in the upcoming elections," he stated.

Polling Station elections

The NPP is opening nominations for candidates interested in contesting as polling station and electoral area coordinators from February 19 to February 21, 2022 after which vetting of prospective aspirants will take place between February 22 to 24, 2022, while the conduct of the polls will take place from February 25 to March 5, 2022.