Selective Justice, Failed Promises – Afenyo-Markin Rates NDC Govt.

Parliament rose indefinitely last Friday, with the Minority Leader, Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin, delivering a scathing assessment of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)-led government. He indicted the administration of selective justice, broken promises, and using state institutions to harass political opponents.

Alexander Afenyo-Markin, in his closing remarks to the House, painted a grim picture of a nation he said was “pushing towards the precipice” under the current NDC government.

“Executive incompetence, majority tyranny in this House, and a timid or malleable judiciary are, together, suffocating the faith of our citizens in democracy,” Afenyo-Markin told MPs.

 

One Law for NDC, Another for NPP

Perhaps the strongest section of the address concerned what Osahen Afenyo-Markin called the discriminatory use of state power on purpose.

He accused the government of moving swiftly against members of the New Patriotic Party while shielding its own supporters from prosecution.

He cited the case of Bernard Wontumi, the NPP’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, who was reportedly convicted with “remarkable speed,” while investigations into galamsey operators allegedly linked to the government had not progressed.

“One case crawls because the names might be too close to home. Another moves at lightning speed because the target wears the wrong colours,” Osahen stated.

He also referenced the acquittal of NDC’s Madam Sedinam Tamakloe in a case he suggested would have been handled differently if she belonged to the opposition.

“Was justice blind in that case? Or did a party card open a door that stays shut for everyone else?” he asked.

 

Bail Regime Abused

 Afenyo-Markin also raised concerns about the bail system, which he said was being used to punish opposition figures before trial.

“Opposition figures have been kept behind bars, in all but name, through conditions no ordinary Ghanaian could meet,” he said.

He called on Parliament to “close the gaps” that allow bail to be used as a form of “unlawful punishment.”

 

Free Speech Under Threat

The Minority Leader announced that his caucus had filed a bill to amend Sections 207 and 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, which still criminalise insult and so-called false news.

“Those laws belong to an older, harder Ghana. Not the Ghana we are building together,” he said.

He argued that while reckless speech should be discouraged, “no citizen should go to prison for mocking a leader, or for getting a fact wrong.”

 

Government’s Promises ‘Failing Miserably’

Osahen Afenyo-Markin ran through a list of what he described as unfulfilled government pledges, including the “Akoko Nkitinkiti” agricultural investment programme, whose beneficiaries, he claimed, were “simply eating the chicken” rather than building viable livelihoods to the persistent unemployment of trained nurses and teachers who had been promised recruitment.

Osahen also pointed to the government’s faltering fight against illegal mining, or galamsey, alongside other unmet commitments such as the promised Women’s Bank, the much-touted 24-hour economy policy, and the pledge of cost-free first-year university education.

“Ghanaians did not vote for slogans,” he declared. “They did not vote for crass incompetence. They voted for delivery.”

 

Three Tragedies, No Answers

The Minority Leader paid tribute to the late James Victor Gbeho and expressed condolences to the people of Dagbon following the passing of the Ya Na.

But he quickly turned to what he described as a “dangerous pattern” of government silence on national tragedies.

He cited three incidents where he said no official had accepted responsibility:

The June 29 floods and fire that claimed at least 34 lives, with six others still missing;

The crash of a state-owned helicopter that killed senior state officials and military personnel;

The deaths of at least six young women during a Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise.

“Three tragedies. Three sets of graves. And not one word of ownership from this government,” Afenyo-Markin said.

He demanded full parliamentary investigations into all three incidents, insisting that “silence is not an answer.”

 

Tribunal Bill ‘A Revolutionary Monster’

The Minority Leader devoted significant attention to the proposed bill establishing district and regional tribunals, which was passed by Parliament on July 16.

While acknowledging that the Constitution allows for such tribunals, he noted that President Mahama’s own Constitutional Review Committee, chaired by Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, had recommended abolishing the tribunal system and replacing it with ordinary courts.

“Instead, his side in Parliament forced it open, at midnight, on Friday the 16th of July, while most of Ghana slept,” Afenyo-Markin said.

He quoted Professor Kwesi Yankah, who had reportedly called the bill “a revolutionary monster nicely cloaked in fugu democracy” and warned it marked “the return of terror.”

The Minority Leader expressed particular concern that tribunal panel members “may or may not be lawyers,” meaning non-lawyers could sit in judgment on serious cases.

“Power, without training, wrapped in immunity, is not a small risk in a country with our history,” he said and urged President Mahama not to sign the bill into law.

 

Supreme Court Ruling on Primaries

On the Supreme Court ruling abolishing the “one-man-one-vote” system for presidential and parliamentary primaries, Afenyo-Markin said his party would fast-track its plans to expand its delegate base by 40 per cent.

“The Party to which the Minority caucus belongs has stated its position clearly,” he said.

We Told Truth

In his closing remarks, the Minority Leader defended the approach his caucus had taken during the parliamentary sitting.

“We did not do it because it was easy. We did it because Ghana is watching, and history is watching,” he said. “Let the record show: we told the truth.”

He thanked the Speaker, his colleagues, parliamentary staff, and the media for their work.

“When we return to this Chamber, we will still be here, still asking, still holding this government to account, until every one of these matters is resolved,” Osahen said.

 

Budget Figures ‘Do Not Add Up’

The Minority Leader also raised concerns about what he called “sloppy numbers” in the mid-year budget review presented by the Finance Minister on July 23.

He pointed to inconsistencies in the inflation figures, which were given as 5.7 per cent and 5.3 per cent in different parts of the presentation.

Osahen Afenyo-Markin said civil society had independently flagged the same issues, citing Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie of the Centre for Policy Scrutiny, who reportedly found conflicting expenditure figures on pages 25 and 26 of the budget document.

“A budget is not just arithmetic. It is a promise. When the numbers inside a promise cannot agree with each other, the promise itself starts to look like fiction,” he said.

He called on the Finance Minister to return to Parliament and provide “one set of figures, told the same way from the first page to the last.”

Parliament is now in recess without a stated date to resume.