Loyalty over convenience — Afenyo-Markin calls for ideological renewal in NPP

The Member of Parliament for Effutu and Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has called on members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to remain loyal to the party’s values rather than pursuing personal gain.

He made the appeal in Accra on June 25, 2025, during the official launch of the Patriotic Institute, a new ideological and training centre set up by the NPP.

Mr Afenyo-Markin said the establishment of the institute was not just a response to the party’s defeat in the 2024 general elections, but a necessary step towards ideological renewal and leadership development grounded in the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition.

“Today marks a new chapter in the intellectual and ideological life of the New Patriotic Party,  a true call for loyalty,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

“It is the clearest institutional expression of our party’s enduring belief in development in freedom, principled leadership, and the continuous renewal of the values that have shaped the NPP since its birth.”

Mr Afenyo-Markin shared personal experiences of political discrimination his family endured during the 1980s and 1990s for supporting the NPP.

He said his mother, then a teacher, lost her job after refusing to join the Thirty-First December Women’s Movement, while his stepfather, a mason foreman, was demoted and transferred after the 1996 elections for openly backing the party.

He added that his father, a civil servant, was forced into exile and later denied UN clearance for a job in Geneva because of his outspoken opposition to the June 4 regime.

“This is what standing for the NPP meant in practical terms, not just political rhetoric, but empty plates, unpaid school fees, scattered families, and dreams deferred,” he told the gathering. “Yet my parents never wavered. They understood something we may have forgotten: our individual grievances pale in comparison to the collective good we serve.”

According to the Minority Leader, the Patriotic Institute is expected to help party members, especially Members of Parliament, deepen their understanding of the NPP’s ideological roots. He said political office should be seen as a duty and not as a reward.

“Too often, political office is treated as a reward. As a result, some MPs take their seats with little knowledge of the values they are supposed to represent. The Patriotic Institute must change that,” he said.

The event was attended by leading party figures, including the Party Chairman, members of the Council of Elders, former Speaker of Parliament, Right Honourable Oke, former Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who was also acknowledged as the party’s most recent flag bearer.

Mr Afenyo-Markin urged the party’s youth to question ideas with respect and not use social media to attack party elders.

He said the launch of the institute could offer the NPP a path to regroup and refocus after its electoral loss.

“The elephant is mighty. Though it may stumble, it does not fall forever. We shall rise again ,  with clarity and a better strategy,” he said.

The Patriotic Institute is expected to serve as a training centre, think tank and policy hub for the NPP, offering courses in political philosophy, governance, communication and leadership. It aims to equip party communicators and aspiring leaders with the tools needed for effective public service.