NDC Swerves PNC

President Mills THE RULING National Democratic Congress (NDC) is on the verge of violating the terms of a collaborative agreement it made with the People's National Convention (PNC) before the beginning of the current Fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic, according to information gathered.

NDC went into a working accord with the PNC for the two Members of Parliament (MPs) of the latter to give the ruling party a slim Majority of 117 Members in the 230-member parliament, with Asutifi South and Akwatia constituency yet to be decided.

Accordingly, the Sissala West MP, Hon. Haruna Bayirga and his colleague from Builsa South, Hon. Azong Alhassan have been collaborating and doing business with the Majority NDC side in Parliament since the beginning.

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the powerbrokers within the PNC are threatening to pull out of the collaboration if all the terms and conditions of the agreement are not fully met by the NDC.

This paper learnt that the deal was based on a written agreement that obliges the ruling NDC to among other conditions, allot three ministerial portfolios and five District Chief Executive (DCE) positions to the PNC.

Indeed, DAILY GUIDE had earlier reported that the Majority Leader and NDC MP for Nadowli West, Alban S.K. Bagbin had reportedly told the BBC that his party had written to the PNC for their MPs to join their side in parliament and in return get ministerial positions.

So far, only the MP for Builsa South, Hon. Azong Alhassan has been appointed by President John Evans Atta Mills as a Minister without any specific portfolio at the Presidency, leaving PNC gurus worried about the future of the mutual agreement.

It is yet to be seen whether the NDC will fully fulfil the terms of the agreement with the PNC as the number of President Mills' Ministers of state has already hit 75, contrary to one of the pacts of the two parties that the NDC will run a lean government of at most 65 ministers of state.

Sources within the high echelon of the PNC have told DAILY GUIDE that they are worried that whilst the party is sacrificing to give the NDC a slim majority in Parliament, the ruling NDC is not showing any signs of fulfilling their side of the deal.

According to them, one of the conditions of the accord was that, MPs would be consulted before appointments of DCEs are made by the President.

Unfortunately, hawks and political dinosaurs within the ruling party have hijacked the process by placing their cronies forward for appointments without recourse to the MPs.

PNC sources say they did not come into the agreement with the NDC to enrich themselves and that it was for the unity of the party and the country as a whole.

It would be recalled that some members of the PNC had initially declared their intention to join and do business with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as it had been doing from 2001 to 2008, affirming that it was based on certain strong principles and ideology.

According to them, it was the leadership of the party that stated in unambiguous terms that the party's interest and the nation must be their ultimate consideration.

Subsequently, DAILY GUIDE gleaned that some of them were prevailed upon to abandon their initial intentions in the interest of the party and the collective desire of the leadership of the PNC to do business with the ruling NDC in what political analysts have described as a hung Parliament.

By Awudu Mahama