NDC “party hawks” driving removal of key officials — Afenyo-Markin

Minority Leader and Effutu MP, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has accused influential figures within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of orchestrating the removal of key officials in independent state institutions.

He believes the actions are being carried out under the pretext of restructuring government but are driven by political motives rather than national interest.

In a letter to President John Dramani Mahama titled One Year After: Ghana’s Democracy at a Crossroads, Afenyo-Markin reflected on events since the 2024 general election, which returned the NDC to power.

He said the scale and pattern of dismissals over the past year raise troubling questions about the government’s commitment to strengthening democratic institutions.

He pointed to what he describes as a wave of politically influenced removals.

These include the dismissal of thousands of workers in state institutions, the unprecedented removal of the Chief Justice, and the mounting pressure now surrounding the leadership of the Electoral Commission and the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

According to him, these actions signal a coordinated effort influenced more by internal party forces than by the Presidency.

“A pattern emerges, clear as daylight. Party hawks are the ones apparently driving the agenda,” he wrote, suggesting that entrenched interests within the governing party are shaping decisions that weaken institutional independence.

Afenyo-Markin argued that such actions contradict the government’s stated mission of national resetting and institutional renewal.

He warned that when governance becomes centred on removing individuals instead of solving national problems, citizens pay the price.

He noted that an administration focused on retaliation rather than opportunity ultimately undermines the trust placed in it by ordinary Ghanaians.