Deputy Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has apologised for presenting a misleading image to depict alleged sanding winning activity at Keta in the Volta Region.
During a press conference last week on the havoc wreaked by tidal waves in Keta and other communities in the Volta Region, the Deputy Majority Leader presented the photo to journalists to back an assertion that the havoc was partly man-made.
The photo, which the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislator claimed was taken in Keta, showed some heavy-duty trucks loading sand from the seashore.
Opposition National Democratic Congress (NPP) Member of Parliament for the South Dayi, Nelson-Rockson Dafeamekpor, then interrupted the press conference and said the photo was fake.
The interruption by the South Dayi MP nearly resulted in fisticuffs.
However, on Monday, November 15, 2021, Mr Afenyo-Markin admitted that the photo he showed to journalists was misleading.
“I sincerely apologise for relying on this [picture]…I render an unqualified apology.
We reasonably relied on this picture in an article, the source has since pulled down and I apologise and it was not intended to mislead, if it was so, we wouldn’t have handed over all the documents,” he said on Joy News’ PM Express.
Reports indicate that the said image was originally taken in the Sierra Leonian capital, Free Town.
Mr Afenyo-Markin explained that the source he relied on for the picture has pulled the image down hence the apology to the people of Keta, and all Ghanaians who had the opportunity to see the picture.
About 4,000 residents have been displaced since the rising tides flooded homes close to the sea.
Source|osimpamfm.com|Richard Owusu Tawiah
