Audio By Carbonatix
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has warned the government against what he describes as excessive intimidation of the opposition, cautioning that the New Patriotic Party could one day return to power.
Speaking on Joy News’ The Probe on Sunday, he said the government’s approach to accountability could create a cycle of political retaliation if not moderated.
Afenyo-Markin said some NPP MPs were being investigated over what he considers mere allegations.
“The other challenge, really, is that, unfortunately, this government has made intimidation part of its strategy of silencing the minority,” he said.
“I tell you, how are they doing that? I’ll tell you for a fact. A couple of my colleagues are being investigated for things that, in my view, are mere allegations that are not supposed to take their time to those investigative agencies.”
He declined to name the MPs involved but said the situation was worrying.
“There are times that a colleague would have to speak, and he will boldly tell you that, Leader, if I make any submission today, the BNI guys will call me. It’s sad,” he said.
Afenyo-Markin said he had raised concerns about what he described as the excesses of investigations with senior government officials.
“I’ve had cause to complain to some of the senior members of government that, Colleagues, watch some of these things,” he said.
He stressed that the NPP was not opposed to accountability.
“By the way, I have said time without number, and for the umpteenth time, I repeat that our party is not against accountability,” he said.
“As for post-regime accountability, it’s there for everybody.”
But Afenyo-Markin said accountability must not be used to intimidate political opponents unnecessarily.
“I am dealing with the excesses thereto. You see, you can enforce the law with a human face without unnecessarily intimidating the person,” he said.
He argued that MPs should be allowed to perform their parliamentary duties without feeling that their submissions could trigger investigations.
“For instance, a member of parliament should go through investigations normally. You shouldn’t only call him when he’s arguing forcefully on the floor, and you think that that is going against the government,” he said.
The Minority Leader said he was warning against a political culture in which parties retaliate against one another upon gaining power.
He said his comments were intended to draw attention to a possible future that could affect the government itself.
“When I spoke about bail the last time and it was misconstrued to mean that I am aiming at a particular individual or somebody, I was giving my own colleagues a general picture of how these excesses, if they don’t moderate, one day NPP may come into office and there may be some hardliners who may also be pushing that they did it to us, let’s also do it to them,” he said.
“I am not the person who supports this you do me, I do you politics,” he added.
Afenyo-Markin said governments should instead focus on delivering on their promises and tackling Ghana’s challenges.
“I believe that governments that are elected can focus on their mandate of tackling the challenges in our economy,” he said.
“And in tackling, you don’t make your opponents a target.”
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