Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, has warned that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) can hand a windfall victory to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Election 2024 if Members of the Parliament (MPs) of the party fail to engage with their constituents and allay their frustrations.
He explained that research from civil society organisations had shown that the citizenry had a lot of bottled-up frustration and pent-up feeling towards the government as a result of the economy’s trajectory in recent times.
“If not managed appropriately the situation can manifest in the elections and the way to avert it is constant engagement with constituents to explain the current circumstances and what the government is doing, while also listening to issues that affect them,” Mr Afenyo-Markin asserted.
He alluded that the country was in challenging times but MPs, members and supporters of the party should not allow any vacuum the frustration would manifest in the elections or get booted out and appealed to them not to take research for granted adding that “we must not doubt data since we have been working on research findings and I have a fair idea how citizens feel about the government”.
Mr Afenyo-Markin, who is the MP for Effutu Constituency in the Central Region, bemoaned series of frustrations and could not run away from that fact and the NDC would have a windfall if the NPP slacks but have to work hard to explain and demonstrate to the people that the party and the government meant well.
He observed that the double whammy of COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war had left the economy spiraling and the private sector was suffering contraction while the public sector was unable to absorb excesses contributing to unemployment situation.
“It is normal Ghanaians will blame the government for their frustrations, thus our MPs should engage constantly to calm the simmering anger which is the reality because when people are frustrated, who is there to blame? The government, not the opposition so, for those of us in privileged status, it is time for us to work extra hard, it has not been easy,” Mr Afenyo-Markin postulated.
