Ken and I were initially for Bawumia – Afenyo-Markin

The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has disclosed that former New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong, was initially supporting the presidential bid of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

According to Afenyo-Markin, both he and Ken wanted Dr. Bawumia to become the flagbearer of the NPP before all of a sudden, the latter changed his mind.

The Majority Leader, who made these remarks in an interview with Citi TV on February 26, 2024, indicated that when Ken, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, told him he was going to challenge Dr. Bawumia for the flagbearer position, he had no option but to stay in the middle.

He said that he could not openly declare his support for the vice president because the Assin Central legislator was also a good friend who has supported him greatly.

“It was a very difficult moment for me. Ken and I were all Bawumia. Yes, both of us were Bawumia. And out of the blue, he informed me that, Alex, I want to contest.

"I said, okay, but as it is, I'm a Freemason and a Catholic, I know how to respect friendship and if you give your word to a brother, you have to keep it. So, I told him that our friendship would remain, but it would be difficult for me to be seen to be out there doing this or that,” the Effutu MP said.

He added, “However, I would want to play that role of resolving issues and being there. He understood where I was coming from.”

The Majority Leader stated that Dr. Bawumia and other leading members of the NPP also came to terms that he could not openly declare his support for the vice president because there was no way he was going to betray Kennedy Agyapong.

“I will be candid. I told Dr. Bawumia what the situation was. I told Ken what the situation was. I told Mr. President what the situation was. Senior members of the party knew the situation I found myself in.

“This is a bosom friend. At the time that I was going through a crisis in parliament, where positions had been shared and nobody considered Afenyo-Markin, he called me at midnight into his house... ‘Alex, I want to give you capital to revive your business’. He gives me capital to revive my business and I turn around to betray him? No, I can't do that,” he added.

BAI/AE

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