Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin says that getting the Minority’s voice heard in Parliament has become difficult due to the Majority’s numerical strength.
Speaking on Joy News’ The Probe on Sunday, he said the Minority has to work harder to ensure its views are heard despite having fewer MPs.
“It is a very difficult one because you are in opposition, and you need to work hard with your colleagues to ensure that, notwithstanding your numbers, your voice is heard,” he said.
The Effutu MP said the current parliamentary arithmetic presents a major challenge for the Minority, with the Majority holding 189 seats.
“So, getting your voice heard in a chamber where the majority is 189 can be very difficult,” he said.
He also pointed to the leadership of Parliament as another factor that makes the Minority’s task challenging.
“You have a speaker who is not on your side in terms of party affiliation, and you have a first deputy who is also part of the majority, and obviously, his first mandate will be to protect his side,” he said.
According to him, the situation requires the Minority to adopt a deliberate approach to its work in Parliament.
“So it calls for a lot of hard work, determination, and a focused strategy to make sure that you navigate well,” he said.
Afenyo-Markin, however, said the Minority is not intimidated by its current numbers.
He said the New Patriotic Party has previously operated in Parliament with a much smaller representation and still managed to grow its numbers.
“This is not the first time NPP is getting into the chamber with fewer numbers,” he said.
He cited the Second Parliament, when the NPP had 61 MPs against the National Democratic Congress’s 133.
“You may recall that in 1992 we didn’t participate in the parliamentary elections. So, in the second parliament, we had 61, led by J. H. Mensah, and the NDC had 133,” he said.
Afenyo-Markin said the NPP later increased its parliamentary representation to 102 by the 2000 election.
“But through their industry, by the 2000 election, that 61 increased to 102,” he said.
He insisted that the current 87-member Minority would not be discouraged by the numbers.
“So I’m not perturbed at all by the numbers today. We’re 87. We say we are a mighty minority,” he said.
He said the Minority’s strength would be measured by the quality of its contribution rather than its numbers.
“We feel the might in the substance we put out, and we are not intimidated by the numbers,” he said.
“Our voice must be heard, and when people hear us, they must see substance in us,” Afenyo-Markin added.
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