Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has conceded that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lost significant support from Ghana’s middle class due to the tough economic measures implemented to stabilise the economy.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on October 27, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the financial sector haircut and other austerity policies deeply affected the party’s traditional base, including professionals, pensioners, and business owners.
“We lost the middle class, our own base, the businessmen, because there was some haircut… Pensioners and educated people who ordinarily would vote NPP got disappointed,” he said.
“To the extent that a former Chief Justice, appointed by our own administration, was on the streets fighting for her pension—it’s understandable.”
The Minority Leader explained that while the government’s decisions were unpopular, they were taken in the context of a global economic crisis that forced Ghana to act swiftly to restore stability.
“We were faced with some huge challenges. We tried, but we were not too successful,” he admitted. “In stabilising the economy, certain hard decisions had to be taken.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin acknowledged the economic pain caused by the reforms but insisted that they were necessary sacrifices to preserve the country’s long-term financial health.
Despite the backlash, the Effutu MP pointed to key achievements of the NPP government, including the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy and the One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative, which he said had transformed lives and expanded opportunities nationwide.
“Ours is to create a platform to build the human resource capacity of the Ghanaian people. We did that successfully,” he said.
He added that these interventions were proof of the NPP’s commitment to social progress, even amid economic turbulence.
Mr Afenyo-Markin also defended the NPP’s record on social interventions, challenging the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to name a single major social policy it had successfully introduced and implemented since 1992.
“Recently in Parliament, I challenged the Majority Leader to name a single social intervention policy the NDC has initiated and implemented successfully since 1992. They have zero,” he said, citing Free SHS, 1D1F, school feeding, health insurance, and the mass transport system as NPP legacies.
Sharing a personal story, Mr Afenyo-Markin recalled nearly dropping out of St Augustine’s College until he won a bursary introduced by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom.
“But for that bursary, I would have dropped out,” he revealed, adding that policies like Free SHS have similarly given hope to thousands of young Ghanaians who would otherwise have been denied education.
Mr Afenyo-Markin urged his party to confront the political fallout from the economic crisis with honesty while highlighting the NPP’s successes.
“In spite of all these disappointments, we should still let the Ghanaian people know the good things we did,” he said. “We shouldn’t shy away from our success stories.”
Click the link Puretvonline.com | WhatsApp Channel to join the WhatsApp channel
GOT A STORY?
Contact/WhatsApp: +233243201960 or manuelnkansah33@gmail.com