Former Majority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, has praised the current minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmakers for their efforts, saying they are navigating a “difficult enterprise” in a Parliament dominated by the opposition.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Joy News on the AM show, Bonsu compared the current NPP minority to his party’s position in the 1997 Parliament.
“But let me just say that they are doing their best under very difficult circumstances,” he said.
He recalled that when the NPP first entered the 200-member Parliament in 1997, the party held only 61 seats – less than one-third of the chamber. With support from other minority parties, including the CPP, PNC, and an independent lawmaker, their numbers rose to 67, just one more than the two-thirds threshold needed by the majority at the time.
“Today, the majority has two-thirds, and the NPP alone is just as it was in the 1997 Parliament. It’s a difficult enterprise,” Bonsu said, noting the challenges of operating under a dominant majority.
He also highlighted the delicate balance faced by parliamentary leadership in those early years, recalling that the Speaker at the time, Justice Annan, had previously served as vice chairman of the PNDC and had to navigate the tightrope of managing a Parliament with a slim opposition presence.
