Why Gabby Otchere-Darko backs Afenyo-Markin over 'attack' on judge

New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwart, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has defended Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, for publicly criticising a Circuit Court judge over a recent ruling.

According to Gabby Otchere-Darko in a Facebook post on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, leadership demands courage, especially when issues of human rights and freedom of speech are involved.

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“Leadership requires courage. Timidity can never be a leadership option. Certainly not in a democracy,” he said.

He stated that defending the dignity of the legal system and protecting citizens’ rights should not be left to timid leaders.

“Protecting human rights and guarding the dignity of our legal system require men and women of courage, conviction and patriotic verve,” he stated.

Otchere-Darko explained that this was why he admired Afenyo-Markin for confronting the judge over what he described as excessive enthusiasm in approving imprisonment linked to free speech issues.

“That is why I doff my hat to Alexander Afenyo-Markin for taking on the judge who displayed such troubling zeal in endorsing the imprisonment of free speech,” he added.

He further argued that the matter should not be reduced to political rivalry between the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“It is mistaken to view this through the narrow prism of NPP versus NDC, or ruling party versus opposition. The implications are far broader than partisan politics,” Gabby argued.

According to him, many young people actively express their opinions on social media and any attempt to silence them could threaten Ghana’s democracy.

“In a zeitgeist where Gen Zs cherish and actively exercise the freedom to speak their minds on social media, we must be careful of any actions by the system that appear designed to frighten citizens into silence,” he noted.

Otchere-Darko warned that restrictions on free expression could eventually affect every Ghanaian regardless of political affiliation.

“Today it may be a political activist. Tomorrow it could be the journalist, the radio commentator, the student, the taxi driver, or the ordinary young Ghanaian with a smartphone and an opinion,” he stated.

He, however, maintained that the law must still deal firmly with people who break it but without undermining constitutional rights and due process.

“Let the law deal firmly with those who fall foul of it. But let it never do so by compromising the protection of fundamental human rights, due process, and the freedoms that hold our democracy together. Justice must be done and seen to be manifestly done,” he concluded.

Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who is also the Member of Parliament for Effutu, has faced criticism over comments indicating that he would continue to disregard the judge handling the Abronye case at Circuit Court 9.

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The lawmaker has accused the judge of misapplying the law following the remand of the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye, over alleged offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace and the publication of false statements against a judge.



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