The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has challenged political actors to refocus their attention on the deliverables of efficient governance to inspire confidence and hope for a better future.

Instead of perpetuating the destructive cycle of targeting and persecuting opponents, the Minority Leader urged political actors in government to focus on building trust and strengthening Ghana’s democracy, so the country could stand tall among its peers in West Africa and beyond.

The Effutu Member of Parliament cautioned that if the youth lose trust in the two major political parties — the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) — they could seize power and imprison the political leadership without due process, as the vicious cycle of political witch-hunting continued unabated.

Speaking at a forum organised by Political Marketing students of the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC) in Accra last Saturday, the Effutu MP said political leaders, including the judiciary, should not create room for the youth to lose trust in the country’s democracy.

Bright Senanu (left), Lecturer, Political Marketing, UniMAC, presenting a citation to Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin (right), Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu.

“This is a warning to those of us in political leadership, the way social media is operating now, if care is not taken and the youth lose trust in the two political parties, they will take over, and we will find ourselves in Nsawam.

"And they will not listen to you, because you have already told them that due process is unnecessary. To my colleagues in politics who have ears, let them hear me — and hear me well; it may happen faster than you think,” he said.

Abronye’s case

He expressed dissatisfaction with the Accra Circuit Court's decision to remand the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, Kwame Baffoe, also known as Abronye, in police custody for an additional week.

“Today, if you are a political opponent and you are not careful, you get arrested for criticising the government, they say, causing fear and panic, and these are the things politicians take for granted when they get power and at the end, before they realise it's too late to recover.

“Yesterday, I was sad in court because I was the lead counsel for Abronye, and the judge’s reason for remanding Abronye again was a dangerous precedent, and if we don’t talk about it, what will happen to our democracy?” he asked. 

Build trust

The Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics, Mussa Dankwah, who was the keynote speaker, stated that politicians should focus on building trust to be able to win voters.

He lamented that the country's political environment had witnessed a noticeable decline in trust in recent times, attributing this erosion largely to the palpable absence of transparency and accountability exhibited by the political elite.

He added that there was a significant shortfall in civic engagement efforts aimed at educating and empowering citizens.

Bright Senanu, a lecturer in Political Marketing at UniMAC, explained that the semester project aimed to help students apply the concepts and theories they had studied in class.

He added that the class was divided into two consultancy teams: one focusing on the NDC, tasked with developing strategies to help the party retain power in the next general election, and the other dedicated to the NPP, crafting strategies to position the opposition for a possible return to government.