The Minority Leader of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has questioned the decision by the presidency to nominate Presidential Staffer Nana Yaa Jantuah to receive the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) petition at Jubilee House.
The issue came up after the NPP presented a petition to the Supreme Court and later moved to the presidency following its “Democracy Under Attack” demonstration.
Addressing Nana Yaa Jantuah before the presentation, Afenyo-Markin said the level of representation did not reflect the importance of the concerns the party had raised.
“I feel that with great respect to you and without prejudice to your presence, to nominate only you to come amounts to disrespecting us as a political party,” he said.
He pointed to the presence of senior party officials at the event, including himself as Minority Leader, the NPP General Secretary, the Chief of Staff to the party’s flagbearer and the Chairman of the party’s Constitutional Affairs Committee.
“I’m the leader of the party in Parliament, you have the General Secretary of the party here, you have the Chief of Staff of the flagbearer, we have the Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the party. Members of Parliament and the leadership of Parliament are all here,” he stated.
According to him, the decision suggested that the government did not fully appreciate the issues contained in the petition.
“To disrespect our democracy by only nominating you to come, like I said, with great deference to you, it doesn’t match it. So it means that the government does not even take serious the grave issues before us,” Afenyo-Markin added.
He, however, said the party would proceed with the presentation because of its commitment to democratic processes.
