Parliament convened an emergency sitting on Monday, 24 August 2026, after the Speaker invoked Standing Order 58(4) to summon the House without the usual fourteen days’ notice.
In his opening remarks, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin framed the recall as a moment of national urgency, declaring that Ghana faces crises that “simply cannot wait.”
Afenyo-Markin began with formal courtesies. He congratulated James Agalga on his elevation to Majority Leader and Mahama Ayariga on his nomination as Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.
He pledged firm but fair engagement with the new Majority Leader on bread-and-butter issues, while signalling that the Minority would rigorously scrutinise Ayariga’s nomination, particularly on sanitation policy.
He also highlighted the New Patriotic Party’s recent regional executive elections, conducted peacefully across all sixteen regions, as evidence of internal democratic strength and a foundation for placing Dr Mahamudu Bawumia back on the presidential ballot.
The heart of the statement focused on three interlocking failures the Minority insists must dominate the week’s deliberations.
First was the reported $1.7 billion loss under GoldBod and related Bank of Ghana activities—equivalent to roughly GH¢22 billion at current rates.
Afenyo-Markin quoted an IMF report dated 17 December 2026 stating that losses from the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and GoldBod “should not be borne by the central bank, and transparently brought on budget.”
He argued that the House cannot remain silent on a figure of this magnitude. On 20 August the Minority filed a motion seeking an Ad Hoc Committee under Order 262(1)(a) with full powers to summon documents and witnesses.
The demand is specific: a complete disaggregation of how much was lost to exchange-rate movements, how much to buying and selling prices, and what judgment guided the decisions. When the central bank’s capital is eroded, he reminded the House, it is the Ghanaian taxpayer who must recapitalise it.
He linked the fiscal scandal to the human cost of illegal mining, noting the epidemic of kidney and lung disease in mining communities that the government, he said, has neither the “clue nor the courage” to confront.
Second was the state of the power sector. Within one month, Ghana suffered two total blackouts—on 29 July and 20 August—both described by GRIDCo as “power system disturbances.”
The second outage, triggered by a fault on the Akosombo-Volta line, left homes, hospitals, and businesses without electricity for most of a day. Afenyo-Markin rejected the government’s terse statements as inadequate for what he called core national-security infrastructure.
Citing Order 216(2)(d), he gave formal notice of the Minority’s intention to demand that the Minister for Energy appear before the House or that a full probe be opened into the causes of the outages.
Third was what he termed the “weaponisation of justice.” He accused the government of deploying the prosecutorial machinery against opposition figures and former Akufo-Addo appointees while discontinuing cases against its own allies through successive nolle prosequi.
He cited the case of Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Antwi Boasiako (“Wontumi”) and a controversial warrant issued during the judicial vacation, a matter now before the Supreme Court.
Addressing allegations of extortion levelled against him personally, Afenyo-Markin confirmed he had filed defamation suits in the Accra High Court and Achimota Circuit Court and affirmed that he had served with integrity and a clear conscience.
On the cocoa sector, he offered limited praise for COCOBOD’s reform efforts but criticised insufficient consultation with Licensed Buying Companies and haulage operators. He objected to new requirements that farmers seek government permission before repurposing land or register before selling cocoa—rules he said had never existed in the country’s history—and called for a motion of rescission so the House could further deliberate before presidential assent.
Quoting Theodore Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” speech, Afenyo-Markin closed with a declaration of resolve. The Minority, he said, would not bend the knee to threats, “bogus prosecution” or intimidation. History would record whether Parliament looked away from nearly GH¢22 billion, accepted terse explanations for a darkened nation, or allowed the justice system to become a tool of political fear.
The two formal notices given that day—on GoldBod losses and power outages—were only the beginning. “We do not intend to let a single matter of accountability rest,” he said, “for it is said that he who comes to equity must do equity.”
The emergency sitting continues this week under the weight of those demands.
