Afenyo-Markin’s extortion allegation to feature in NPP caucus meeting today

A member of the New Patriotic Party’s minority in parliament has told Pledge Against Corruption that allegations of extortion against the minority leader of parliament “are very likely” to come up at the caucus’ meeting later this morning.

The Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Samuel Gyamfi, has repeatedly accused the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, of extortion.

Sammy Gyamfi first made the allegation last week at a press conference in response to what he said were Afenyo-Markin’s attacks on his person in the ongoing discussion of losses pertaining to the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

Sammy Gyamfi emphasised the allegation when he appeared on the Newsfile programme on Saturday, insisting that Afenyo-Markin could not sue him because he (Afenyo-Markin) knew that what he (Sammy Gyamfi) said was true.

Later that day, the minority leader issued a statement denying the allegations against him without naming the specific allegations or the person who made them. In that statement, he hinted at legal action against Sammy Gyamfi.

“On the defamatory statements made against me personally, I intend to pursue the appropriate legal remedies,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

 When Afenyo-Markin was asked on Sunday on The Probe programme on JoyNews whether he would go to court over Sammy Gyamfi’s allegations against him, he did not give a specific response.

“I have made certain statements. I would rely on them without more. Don't rush. In the Bible, Jesus was accused [of] wild allegations. He kept quiet and watched them. He could have done anything,” he said.

The NPP MP, who spoke to Pledge Against Corruption, said the caucus found the allegations very serious and disturbing.

“These are serious allegations, and we will be asking him [Afenyo-Markin] to seriously deal with them and clear his name; otherwise, they will stick,” the MP said.

The caucus meeting, the MP said, was scheduled for 9 am on Monday, August 24.

The main agenda of the meeting centred on the business of parliament prior to the recall, but the MP said the caucus had considered the allegations against their leader and would most likely raise them at the meeting as "other matters."