Waakye joint chat exposed me to harsh realities citizens are facing – Afenyo Markin

• An informal chat with constituents has brought lots of benefits to a top lawmaker

• He wants the NPP and government to trumpet their achievements better

Deputy Majority leader in Parliament, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has admitted that some citizens are facing concrete hardships and the government needed to work assiduously towards fixing these challenges.

MPs have different ways they interface with their constituents, former Ledzokuku MP, Bernard Okoe-Boye is known to ride around speaking to the people, playing football with others and also holding weekly medical consultations.

Afenyo-Markin revealed in an interaction with fellow lawmakers from the New Patriotic Party, NPP, that he recently got close to his constituents through a random ‘waakye’ joint meeting where they discussed national issues.

“Recently, ladies and gentlemen, I sat down to have ‘waakye’ with some ordinary citizens of our great nation. It was not planned. It was a random act on a fine Saturday morning. But, as we ate together, these citizens of our country shared the concerns agitating their minds with me.

“They spoke about the growing challenges facing their businesses; concerns about the limited job opportunities available in our country; the increasing difficulties they face trying to put food on their dinner tables,” he told the MPs at the start of a three-day conference.

“They worry about the falling value of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar and other major currencies, as well as the never-ending infrastructure deficit in Ghana’s health, energy, education and road sectors,” he is quoted to have said.

He joined the recent chorus where top party functionaries are tasking the rank and file to propagate the good works of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government as a viable means to breaking-the-eight year political cycle where an incumbent is voted out of office.

“We must tell the good stories about the record number of Ghanaian children successfully graduating from our Senior High Schools free of charge. We must tell the compelling story of the new rail tracks being built around the country. Finally, we must tell the story about the new cocoa production record we have just set.

“We must sell the story of the modern and relatively cheaper district hospitals being built across the country and many more. Yes; we must tell these stories until every city, every township, every village, every hamlet, every settlement and indeed every citizen of Ghana hears and appreciates the actual value of our good works under the Government of President Nana Akufo-Addo,” he stressed.