The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has come out strongly in defense of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) record in government, insisting that the party’s 2024 electoral defeat was not a result of poor performance but rather a convergence of unprecedented global and local challenges.
Speaking at the NPP’s National Delegates Conference held on Saturday, July 19, at the University of Ghana Stadium, Afenyo-Markin accused the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration of rebranding NPP achievements and presenting them as their own.
“Yes, we lost the 2024 elections in a big way,” he acknowledged. “But let us be clear, this was not a defeat born out of failure. It was a perfect storm of adversity no government in the Fourth Republic has ever had.”
He cited the banking sector clean-up, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war as significant hurdles the Akufo-Addo-led government had to confront during its tenure.
“No government in our democratic history faced this scale of compounded crisis,” he emphasized. “Yet in the driving seat, we held the line.”
Despite these obstacles, Afenyo-Markin praised the resilience of the Ghanaian people and credited their sacrifices particularly those of bondholders with fueling the beginnings of an economic turnaround by early 2024.
“We should commend them because it was the sacrifices they, including the bondholders, made that led to the big economic recovery we started witnessing,” he said.
He also defended the economic legacy of the Akufo-Addo administration, claiming the NPP left behind a stronger economy than what it inherited in 2017.
“We fixed a crisis and handed over an economy with stronger GDP growth than what we inherited. We built historic levels of gold and foreign exchange reserves reserves the current administration is now relying on to prop up the cedi and support the economy,” he asserted.
Highlighting the party’s signature programmes and accomplishments, Afenyo-Markin pointed to Free SHS, the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative, significant infrastructure development, and advancements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and digitalisation.
He concluded his speech with a call for unity and renewal within the NPP.
“Let us go back to our roots. Let us rebuild with courage. Let us reimagine our future,” he urged. “We rise again in unity and in the enduring spirit of our party, our great NPP.”
