News:
May 28, 2020
Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka has taken a swipe at the Majority Leader Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu for denying that two lawmakers and staff of the House have tested positive.
According to him, the leadership style of the Majority Leader is problematic as he organised a press conference on Tuesday to deny the media report.
“If I were the Majority Whip the first thing was to call for leadership meeting and plan on how to communicate this issue, we should not embarrass ourselves the way we have done by not telling the public the truth”.
Briefing the media in Parliament on Wednesday 27th May, 2020, he pointed out that he does not fear any consequences as some have said he had betrayed leadership, adding, he has not done anything wrong since they had not agreed on anything.
He added that Parliament would not have had this problem if the Majority Leader had not unilaterally gone to organise a press conference and denied the confirmed cases; he did not consult us on the Minority side and he lied to Ghanaians.
Mr. Mohammed Muntaka in an interview with the media on Wednesday morning before entering the chamber pointed out that the Leader of Government Business by his conduct was smearing Parliament as an institution.
He confirmed that leadership as at yesterday morning were aware that two of his colleagues who took the COVID-19 test last week and staff had tested positive and those involve had been isolated.
Hence Speaker Oquaye’s directive yesterday that there should be a mandatory testing and if the Whips from both side of the House have been given the opportunity of knowing the identity of their colleagues infected would also help manage the situation better.
Again, MPs who have tested already and have not be called because they are negative if they have doubts they can go and retest this week Thursday and Friday as the team from Noguchi are back doing mop up.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com