The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has assured the new Majority Leader, James Agalga, that he can find in him a good friend who is committed to enhancing consensus-building in Parliament.
He said he would offer friendship and support to Mr Agalga and would not to obstruct him in his capacity as Leader of Government Business.
He said he would provide Mr Agalga a different lens through which to examine issues he might not have considered.
Mr Afenyo-Markin also offered to make available to the new Majority Leader the well-researched dossiers and materials he had relied on in his parliamentary debates to help him excel in his new leadership role.
“But in any event, my job really is to turn this Minority into Majority and that really is my job. But please, James, as you have come, do not attempt to infiltrate my back as a lot of people are causing turbulence all over the place, and please do not join that group,” he said.
Leadership code
In an addressing prior to the House adjourning its four-day emergency recall on Thursday (August 27), Mr Afenyo-Markin said “You can find in me a good friend, James.
“James, those who have not gone through the process of being leaders would not understand what I am saying because they have not been part of our club.
“So, when we are talking about friendship, their interpretation is different but you will soon be introduced to the code of leadership,” he said.
Assumption of leadership
Mr Agalga assumed the position of Majority Leader on Wednesday night after his predecessor, Mahama Ayariga, announced on the floor that the national executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had effected the change in leadership.
Seek support
Mr Afenyo-Markin said through patience and hard work, Mr Agalga had been elevated to the high office of Leader of the House which he described as a “very hot seat”.
In that position, he said, a leader could sometimes feel lonely and would have to endure situations in which everybody else held a contrary view.
“You know the truth but you cannot speak the truth,” he said, explaining why he often reached out to his predecessors, including former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, for “wisdom and counselling”.
“In such critical times, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was 23 years in leadership as Chief Whip, Deputy Leader, eight years Minority Leader and seven years four months as Majority Leader, and so I have to go to him to listen,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said there was no way the new Majority Leader could rely solely on his own strength to succeed in his new role.
“Haruna once said compromise is not weakness. I go to him a lot when I am in difficult times to seek counselling on how he did it because it is not easy,” he said.
He reminded Mr Agalga, whom he described as his senior at the Bar, that both were Supreme Court practitioners and had “made our name at the Bar”.
“Honourable Agalga, all of us respect your industry and, due to the way you have conducted yourself in this House, nobody doubts your competence.
“But I can conclude by saying that carry your backbench along; find time for them and do not be too busy. Listen to their problems,” he said.
He added: “Sometimes, the difficulty of being on the government side in this Chamber is that when you come, the Ministers may not even have time for you. But you must go and knock at doors as the Majority Leader and help them.”
