Alban Bagbin: Government officials even want to polish Mills' shoes

Majority Leader Alban Sumana Bagbin

The bitter internal wrangling in the ruling National Democratic Congress is not showing any signs of abeyance as the Majority Leader Alban Sumana Bagbin hacks the president and his men.

In an uncharacteristic fashion, the usually diplomatic Bagbin describes some close confidants of the president as “sycophants, bootlickers and fair weather friends,” who are reaping where they did not sow, claiming that some senior officials of the government sometimes even attempt to polish the president's shoes.

Confirming comments he made in a Daily Guide publication to Peace FM, Mr. Bagbin said it was unfortunate and regrettable that some members of the party who had lost faith in it and had either flirted with the New Patriotic Party or declared their intention to retire from active politics, were now calling the shots at The Castle while those who remained resolute even at their own peril were now consigned to the austere fringes after their efforts delivered victory to the NDC in the 2008 elections.

“Some sycophants, some bootlickers, some old boys, some old friends who timidly were hiding somewhere suddenly decided to feel the appetite for political office and [have] taken over” the government, he regretted.

Mr Bagbin said President Mills was surrounded by what he called 'fair weather friends' who cannot help him to achieve his aim of building a better Ghana because they lack the courage to speak the truth but “I am not a diplomat, I am calling a spade a spade, it is better to tell the truth.”

Stopping short of mentioning names, the Majority Leader did not understand why a gulf had been created between the party and the government, arguing that suggestions that he and other dissatisfied members of the ruling party could channel their grievances to the presidency instead of making them public are misplaced. “Governance is not about a few people hopping to the presidency.”

An obviously frustrated Bagbin said he was faced with the daily tantrums of the opposition NPP who contend that the government was not implementing the manifesto on which the NDC was voted into power.

Such complaints, the Nadowli West Member of Parliament believes were difficult for him to countenance and explain because the government was not creating the opportunity for the leadership of the NDC to understand why the manifesto was not being implemented.

He said members of the party who had been complaining about the performance of the government simply wanted “to see that things are moving in the right direction” as the people of Ghana were promised during the elections.

Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana