It Is Only A Fool Who Doesn�t Change His Mind - Yaw Boateng Gyan

Deputy Minority leader of Parliament, Dominic Nitiwul has indicated that they still maintain and stand by their initial position not to participate in government business despite their decision to be in parliament during the budget statement presentation. This follows the Minority�s decision to participate in the 2013 budget that will be presented to parliament next week. The Minority which has boycotted some important proceedings of the House says it would be present in parliament when the budget is presented. The Minority is challenging the legitimacy of the President in the Supreme Court and has refused to support him in his activities thus boycotting of his inauguration, vetting of ministerial appointees and the state of the nation address. According to Hon. Nitiwul, their decision to participate in the 2013 budget statement follows a series of meetings and analyses by the minority. He said they realised the content of the budget statement will have a lasting effect on Ghanaians and the economy even when President Mahama loses his position. Speaking in an interview on Peace FM, Hon Nitiwul said: �We have always said that anything that will disappear when the president loses his position, we will not participate. We believe the budget statement will have a lingering effect on us as a nation for a long time to come and that will lead to the acquisition of loans; in this case we will participate" He said they recognised President John Mahama as president of the country as stated in Article 64.2 of the Constitution; �we are just saying that we will not help him put his government in shape because when he loses the court case, the government will go�. �We have always said that we have a principle and we are following that principle...but a budget will run over a long period of time and that is why we are participating...� he added. In reaction to this on the same platform, Yaw Boateng Gyan, National Organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) welcomed the decision saying, it is in the right direction. He indicated: �It is only a fool who doesn�t change his mind. It is good that they have decided to go back to their duties as elected to do by their constituents...it is the growth of the country that we are all looking for. If they made a decision and now they have changed their mind, we don�t have any problem with that��