NPP is on a suicide mission – Haruna Iddrisu

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has asked New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentarians to “rethink their suicidal political” decision to boycott activities relating to the presidency of Mr John Dramani Mahama.

The NPP has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of ‘stealing’ over 1.34 million votes for President Mahama to enable him to win the December 2012 presidential election in the first round by drawing over 50 per cent of the popular votes.

 According to the NPP, attending activities that related directly to President Mahama would undermine the party’s case in court challenging the election results.

 Minority MPs on Thursday boycotted President Mahama’s maiden State of the Nation Address, in spite of an earlier announcement that they would attend.

 The Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, told Joy FM on Wednesday that he and his colleagues would be present for the address but would not participate in the debate.

 Prior to that, they had also boycotted President Mahama’s inauguration on January 7, 2013.

 Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Friday, February 22, 2013, Mr Iddrisu accused the Minority of “doing selective and convenient application” of Article 64 of the 1992 Constitution.

 According to him, the NPP was relying on Article 64 [1] to challenge the election of the President, while ignoring Article 64 [2], which states, “A declaration by the Supreme Court that the election of the President is not valid shall be without prejudice to anything done by the President.”

 He said the NPP’s decision would not in any way affect President Mahama’s administration because the governing National Democratic Congress had a comfortable majority in Parliament that it would use to ensure that the President succeeded in his first four-year term.

Source: Myjoyonline