The Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has told the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that parliamentary majority is won at the polling station level within constituencies, not manufactured in Parliament.
There was drama in Parliament on Thursday, October 17, 2024, after the Speaker of Parliament declared four seats held by MPs contesting the 2024 election on different tickets as vacant, thereby reducing the seats held by the NPP and granting the NDC majority status. However, in less than a day, the Supreme Court granted an application for a stay of execution by the NPP until the substantive case seeking interpretation of the article the Speaker sought to enforce.
Responding to the development, which effectively nullified the Speaker’s ruling, Dr. Bawumia taunted the NDC Caucus for being the majority for “only 24 hours,” adding that parliamentary majority status “cannot be manufactured” in Parliament.
“A few days ago, they did something in Parliament and claimed they were the majority side,” Dr. Bawumia said at a large campaign event in Nkawkaw on Saturday.
“Anyway, they held the majority for just 24 hours. That is a 24-hour majority. It didn’t last at all. The shortest-lived majority that I know of in history,” he added.
The NPP Flagbearer continued, telling the NDC that parliamentary majority is won at the polling station and that the NPP is poised to secure a “decisive parliamentary majority” in December at the polling stations.
“They should know that if they want a majority, they should come to the polling station. Come to the constituency, win an election, and then go to Parliament. You don’t sit in Parliament and manufacture a majority for yourself,” he said.
“We will meet them in the constituencies, and we will meet them at the polling stations. What I can assure you is that, from what I know—I have been to over 200 constituencies, I have campaigned on the ground, I have seen the data—and I can tell you that if we held the elections today, the NPP would have a decisive majority in Parliament. There is no doubt about it. If the elections were held today, the NPP would have a decisive majority. Not just a majority, but a decisive majority in Parliament.”
Dr. Bawumia urged the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party to continue to unite and work hard for victory in December.
“The election is not today. It is on December 7, and if it continues like this and we all come together, by midnight on December 7, all of you will hear that the NPP has a decisive majority in Parliament. We will win at the polling stations,” he stressed.