The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alex Afenyo Markin has revealed that he was very bitter when he was impressed upon by party elders to step down in the run-up to the 2004 Parliamentary election.
Hon. Markin who emerged as the Parliamentary candidate at the end of the NPP primary was denied the opportunity of entering Parliament because he was young at the age of 26 years.
Speaking to Bola Ray on Starr Chat on Starr FM Wednesday, the MP who is a lawyer by profession stated that the day he was stopped from pursuing his political ambition goes down as one of his memorable days.
“I wept that day, I was bitter, against Esseku, I felt that they were denying me the opportunity. I thought the party was democratic. The party rather went for a retired chief director Hon. Owusu Agyei who was not even resident in the constituency.
“I was taken to President Kufour at the Castle who spent time on me, talking to me about life, business and his own experience in politics. President Kufour told the party elders to allow me to go unopposed in 2008.”
Hon. Afenyo Markin nonetheless stated that he never thought of contesting as an independent candidate even as the same treatment was meted out to him once again in the run-up to the 2008 elections.
“It would have been a betrayal of my family if I contested as an independent candidate since my family is from the United Party (UP) stock which is the forebears of the NPP.
Source: GhanaWeb
