The Minority Leader of parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has expressed readiness to fast and pray for his colleague on the opposing side, Alban Bagbin to win the upcoming National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries.
The MP for Nadowli-Kaleo, who is seeking for a seventh term in the Chamber in the 2016 elections, is one of the longest-serving parliamentarians in Ghana.
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According to Mensah-Bonsu, attempts to get the veteran MP out of parliament will be an indictment on Ghana's democracy.
But speaking to Accra-based Citi Fm, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu said “We should be looking at experience. We should be looking at wisdom and who is better positioned to perform the functions of an MP. If you want to contest the majority leader you should look at yourself if you can perform better than your majority leader.”
“I’m matured enough to see and appreciate quality. He is under siege. What is proper should be deemed to be proper and should be protected. I have told him … if I’ll have to pray and fast I’ll do that. I’ll support his candidature.”
Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu added that he believes in continuity and so Bagbin, with his requisite experience should be retained.
“Why do you pill them [experienced MPs] off to substitutes who don’t measure?” Democracy is not an all-comers game. Don’t open the gates at the end of every term to allow entry. It is not done anywhere. Parliament will lose out tremendously if we lose Alban Bagbin.”
He further called on political parties to amend their constitution to protect veteran MPs, adding that “2016 is too late to do anything. Time has come for the various political parties to do serious introspection and amend their constitution. We can’t be more Catholic than the Pope. It looks as if our parties have been taken over by money bags."