Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has defended the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary caucus’ continued scrutiny of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), insisting that the caucus’ objective is to hold the government and state institutions accountable to the people rather than engage in personal attacks.
Speaking at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, August 18, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the Minority would not be drawn into what he described as attempts to divert attention from substantive issues raised about the operations and financial position of GoldBod.
“We’re here to make them accountable to the people of Ghana. We’re not here to trade insults,” he said.
His comments come amid an escalating public disagreement between the Minority caucus and officials of GoldBod over claims concerning the institution’s financial performance and the broader state of Ghana’s gold-trading sector.
The Minority Leader said the caucus would not respond to alleged insulting comments directed at some of its members who have raised concerns about GoldBod.
According to him, the NPP parliamentary caucus operates as a team, and positions expressed by its leadership on major policy matters should not be treated as the personal views of an individual legislator.
“We’re the Minority; we work as a team. When the Minority Leader speaks, he speaks for the party,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
He explained that the party’s political leadership, its parliamentary caucus and the party machinery work together in coordinating the NPP’s political and policy positions.
He further noted that the party’s flagbearer, party structures and parliamentary caucus form part of a coordinated political arrangement aimed at ensuring that the party speaks with a common voice on matters of national importance.
“These three units work together with a policy coordinating chair. My respected colleague Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, we coordinate and speak with one voice. It doesn’t matter who speaks,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that once the Minority raises concerns about the management or policy direction of a public institution, the appropriate response should be to address the substance of those concerns rather than attack the individuals raising them.
He therefore cautioned executives of public institutions against what he described as selectively targeting parliamentary leaders when they come under scrutiny.
“So when a matter is raised on policy, a Chief Executive of an institution cannot choose and single the leader out for insults,” he said.
The Minority Leader maintained that the parliamentary caucus does not make claims without first examining available information.
He said the Minority had conducted its own assessment and would rely on documented evidence in making its case to the Ghanaian public.
“In the minimum, the caucus knows its brief and will not speak and blow hot air. That is the report I’ve shown you,” he said.
According to him, the ongoing debate would ultimately allow Ghanaians to assess the competing claims and determine which side had presented credible information.
“Now the Ghanaian people will see who is ignorant, who is doing mischief, who is lying to the public,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin stressed that the Minority would not make statements merely to satisfy partisan interests, arguing that its responsibility extends beyond party politics to protecting the national interest.
“We will not just come out and say anything because of party partisan convenience,” he said.
He warned that developments surrounding GoldBod and the wider management of the economy could have serious consequences if concerns being raised are not properly addressed.
“What is happening is bad. There is crisis ahead of us,” the Minority Leader cautioned.
He urged government officials and their allies to pay closer attention to the concerns raised by the Minority instead of dismissing them as political attacks.
“Our friends must better listen and pay attention, and not allow the IMF to rather come and talk to them before they listen,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the consequences of economic mismanagement, should it occur, would not be limited to one political party, but would affect Ghanaians across the political divide.
“When things go bad in our country, it affects all of us,” he said.
He consequently reaffirmed the Minority’s determination to continue scrutinising GoldBod and other government institutions, insisting that Parliament has a constitutional responsibility to demand accountability from public officials.
“So we are here to hold their feet to the fire and make them accountable to the people of Ghana,” he said.
The Minority Leader concluded by reiterating that the NPP caucus would remain focused on the substantive issues rather than engage in verbal exchanges with officials or political opponents.
“We are not here to trade insults, and that must be clear to them,” he added.
By 1960news.com
