Host of Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana show, Paul Adom-Otchere has described the Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo as a ‘master brain’ in Parliament when he was a member of the House.
According to the Communications Consultant and Broadcast Journalist, the brilliant delivery of the three-time Presidential candidate especially regarding constitutional and legal matters during Parliamentary proceedings was a delight to watch and listen and also crucial to the course of the NPP.
The eloquent and articulate Nana Akufo Addo served as the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South for 12 years, exiting the Legislature in 2008 to pursue his Presidential ambitions.
Serving as the Minority Spokesperson on Constitutional and Legal Affairs in Parliament, Nana Akufo Addo was always heard making strong arguments on matter relating to the supreme law of the land and its rightful application.
Speaking to Bola Ray on Starr Chat on Starr 103.5FM, Wednesday, Mr. Adom-Otchere who said he was inspired by Akufo Addo to study law recountered one of the instances in Parliament where the latter showed his exploits much to the amazement of the House.
“On this occasion Hackman Owusu Agyeman had brought a motion about the Abacha bribe which became news recently, and Hackman had asked the Speaker that the Parliament should discuss the matter and see whether they will form a committee to investigate the situation. The speaker had told Hackman that this is a newspaper allegation and he did not expect Parliament to discuss and form committees matters that newspapers had raised. The Speaker’s view sounded like a very sound view and Hackman was bastardized by the NDC and he was in very bad shape on the floor of Parliament. This was one of the few occasions that we had seen the Minority being bastardized by the Majority on intellectual point.”
He added: “So then Akufo Addo raises his hand that he had something to say, the whole Parliament went quiet because we were all wondering what he was going to say, we knew that he was a very brilliant MP but we thought this was a bad case and we didn’t know how he was going to help this one. So speaker said, tell us…what do you have to say, and then he started by saying that the matter before the House was not whether to discuss Rawlings/ Abacha bribe nor whether or not a newspaper article should be discussed or not by Parliament. By this time he had gooten everybody confused, so the Majority started shouting at him asking so what is the matter before the House and he said, it is about the Speaker, and then Justice Annan said me…Akufo Addo said yes. It is about your conduct. You are not an elected member of the House, you can’t participate in the decision as to what we should discuss or not discuss, but here you are actively participating in the decision so you are the problem. Speaker nodded and said I understand…MPs cast your votes and let’s see if the matter should be discussed or not. Of course everyone knows that the Minority walked out on the vote. That day I was impressed with the man.”
“Nana Akufo Addo was a master-brain and I think J. H Mensah relied on him significantly. I fell in love with him so much that almost every afternoon I’ll go to his Nima office, and he’ll be in the office and I just looked at the way he conducted his office affairs and of course I’ll get an exclusive for Joy FM. That was my inspiration to study law. I terribly fell in love with the man.”
He also described the Second Parliament of the Fourth Republic as the best in recent times which had Justice D.F Annan as the Speaker, J.H Owusu Acheampong as the Majority Leader and J.H Mensah as the Minority Leader.
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