{"id":100616,"date":"2025-10-28T05:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=100616"},"modified":"2025-10-28T05:12:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:12:00","slug":"i-have-a-horse-in-the-race-but-i-cant-go-public-afenyo-markin-on-npp-flagbearer-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=100616","title":{"rendered":"I have a horse in the race, but I can\u2019t go public \u2013 Afenyo-Markin on NPP flagbearer contest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 25 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has admitted that he has a \u201chorse in the race\u201d in the upcoming NPP flagbearer contest but insists he will not publicly declare his support for any candidate.<\/p>\n

Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 PM Express<\/em> on October 27, the Effutu MP said that although he has his private preferences, it is important for him to remain publicly neutral because of his leadership role in Parliament. <\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot publicly say I am going to campaign for this person,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to, because of where I sit\u2026 I cannot publicly\u2014but privately, can you stay there? I cannot publicly. I have a role to play in the aftermath.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that showing open support could compromise his credibility in reconciling factions after the primaries. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I would have to play that role, show my hand openly, it will be difficult to be trusted when I am doing that midnight walking. So I think it\u2019s appropriate to stay that way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Afenyo-Markin said the NPP\u2019s internal election is a \u201cbig deal\u201d and praised the five aspirants for their courage and commitment to lead the party to victory. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve made their name in the party, so bold and courageous to say that, look, we want to take the flag and bring you victory. That tells me that the party has a future,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

He dismissed fears of division among MPs who have publicly declared support for different aspirants. \u201cSo far, the MPs who have declared in one way or the other have been decent. Initially, my concern was how those who will declare openly will manage themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Minority Leader reiterated that his earlier call for neutrality among parliamentary leaders was based on the need to maintain unity after the primaries. \u201cLet\u2019s be very neutral\u2026 to make yourself a credible referee who would be trusted by various factions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to him, while some MPs disagreed with his stance and chose to openly support particular candidates, they have done so \u201cdecently\u201d and without causing disunity. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, that is commendable, and I will continue to encourage those who are showing faces that look, I belong to Mr A or Mr B, to sell the message of their candidate,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Afenyo-Markin added that the ongoing competition is a sign of a vibrant and hopeful party. <\/p>\n

\u201cA party that has no future will not have people wasting their time to use its brand to serve at all. They would go independent. So that, in itself, is a good start for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He emphasised that once the new leader is chosen, the party will begin a rebranding process aligned with the new leader\u2019s vision and the NPP\u2019s ideology. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy 31st January, we will be done with this. A leader is chosen. Then the proper rebranding starts,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"IMinority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has admitted that he has a \u201chorse in the race\u201d in the upcoming NPP flagbearer contest but insists he will not publicly declare his support for any candidate.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,117,1875,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexander-afenyo-markin","category-news","category-npp-flagbearer-race","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}