Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, has criticised the Minority in Parliament for lacking tactics and strategy, suggesting that their tendency to “talk too much” has worked against them.
In an interview on Eyewitness News on Friday, October 18, Otoo stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) inadvertently revealed their plans through excessive public commentary, allowing their opponents in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to prepare effectively to counter their moves.
He noted that even before the consequential issues stemming from the Speaker’s ruling were addressed, NDC members were vocal about their intentions to repeal certain laws and take other actions.
“They were in the media talking about all those issues instead of keeping quiet and doing their things in the Chamber.”
“Even before they brought up the issue of the four members of Parliament to the floor for deliberation, they had started talking outside of Parliament on political platforms that they were going to remove those four MPs from Parliament.”
Commenting on the Supreme Court’s halting of the Speaker’s ruling that declared four seats in Parliament vacant, Ayikoi Otoo pointed out that before bringing the issue of the four affected Members of Parliament to the floor for deliberation, the NDC had already begun making statements on political platforms about removing those MPs from Parliament.
This premature publicity, he argued, gave the NPP the opportunity to organize and take preemptive legal action, including filing a court case in a timely manner.
Addressing the ongoing public debate regarding the swift attention the Supreme Court gave this particular case compared to other delayed matters, Otoo described such arguments as flawed, clarifying that “this is an ex parte application.”
“I think I will take this opportunity to advise the NDC, I think they shot themselves in the foot by talking too much. You talk about strategies and tactics and I think it is lost on them [NDC] completely and they were doing things, which really frightened the Majority and pushed them into trying to protect whatever.
“We [NDC] are going to amend laws, change this… just keep quiet and do your thing, at the end of the day, when you get whatever you want to get fine.”
“Anything you want to do think about your strategy and tactics and stop making too much noise. The noise was such that when you frighten somebody, the basic instinct of a man is to protect his life and to survive. All the things they [NDC] did, compelled the Majority to take this decision they have taken.”
Supreme Court quashes Bagbin’s ruling
