John Boadu, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party
• John Boadu has told Bagbin to rise above party level and discharge his duties as Speaker of Parliament
• He has denied ever saying that the NPP should have been minority in Parliament
• Bagbin is quoted to have said NDC should have form the majority in Parliament
John Boadu, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party has dismissed assertions by the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin that he (John Boadu) at some point conceded that the NPP had lost majority of the seats in Parliament to the National Democratic Congress in the 2020 elections.
In a strongly-worded statement issued on Thursday, August 19, 2021, Boadu chided Alban Bagbin and asked him to rise above partisan level and focus on his works as Speaker of the eighth parliament.
Boadu who describes the allegations by Alban Bagbin as ‘outlandish and preposterous’ said that throughout the vote counting process, he held the position that his party would form the majority.
“The General Secretary had originally taken the view that this rather outlandish and preposterous claim did not deserve the dignity of a response from him. However, he had to reconsider that having in mind the revered position of the person making the claim, coupled with the fact that he was speaking to an international delegation, hence this response.
“First of all, the claim by Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is a blatant falsehood as the General Secretary [John Boadu] had, at no point, made any suggestion or announcement to that effect. Indeed, records have it that, in all the post-election press conferences and media engagements, the NPP, through its General Secretary and other leading members, had always maintained that it had won majority of the parliamentary seats.
“John Boadu recalls that at one of such press conferences, [which video has been attached to this release], to respond to the NDC’s false and absurd claim that they [NDC] had won majority seats, and so, it necessarily meant that, the party [NDC] ought to be declared as winners of the 2020 presidential elections, John Boadu pointed out to them that it was possible for a party to win more seats in parliament and yet lose the presidential elections.”
Boadu recalled the said statement which he believes led to the claims by Alban Bagbin and wondered why such interpretation would be given to his words.
“The phenomenon of “skirt and blouse voting” which has become a regular feature in our general elections, make nonsense of the NDC’s proposition. The General Secretary, in analyzing the 2020 elections results, cited the case of the Central Region, where even though, the NPP won only 10 out of the 23 Parliamentary Seats, Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo won in 19 constituencies.
“As to how on earth Alban Bagbin and the NDC would interpret this analysis, which was based on facts and data at the time, to mean that John Boadu was conceding that the NPP had lost the nationwide parliamentary elections to the NDC, [that] can only be a monumental defiance of logic.
“In any case, are the two main political parties not in court challenging one parliamentary election result or another? So, going by their logic, is the NDC also resorting to unorthodox means to seek to illegally overturn the parliamentary results in those constituencies they are challenging?” asked a statement issued in Boadu’s name.
“Once again, for the avoidance of doubt, the general secretary of the governing NPP made no such suggestion or announcement as claimed by the Speaker of Parliament,” the statement said.
Bagbin at a meeting with a delegation of the Ethiopian Parliament on Wednesday, August 12, 2021 said that John Boadu conceded that the NDC won majority seats.
“They would have had a minority in parliament with a president. Their General Secretary even announced it but the last-minute made some movements and some seats were snatched. That one is a statement of fact,” he stressed.