Disgraced Afenyo Markins Eats Humble Pie Over Fake Picture Of Keta Tidal Waves

Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markins, has had eggs on his face following the nasty blowback from the fake picture he pulled up in Parliament in his attempt to characterize victims of the tidal waves from the Volta Region as the architects of their own woe.

But on Accra-based Joy News, Afenyo Markins was forced to apologise for his dangerous misinformation when it turned out that he had maliciously produced a picture to rather blame the victims of the tidal waves in a bid to discourage the government from moving in to address the situation.

In what almost resulted in a brawl in Parliament, Afenyo Markins attempted to extricate the Akufo Addo government from going to the aid of the Anlo people of Keta in the Volta Region whose homes had a few weeks ago been swept away by tidal waves.

Markins produced a picture showing heavy-duty vehicles winning sand from a beach in what he described as the people of Keta irresponsibly winning the sand from the beach and thus causing their own predicament with the resultant devastating tidal waves.

However, as it turned out, the picture he used to back his claim was from a 2013 picture archive showing sand winning at a Sierra Leonean beach. 

 Afenyo Markins and his colleagues from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) side of the parliamentary isle had held a press conference to produce the fake picture.

When he was finally caught pants down for his malicious misinformation, he claimed he had meant the whole thing in good faith.

According to him, “I acted in utmost good faith and sincerity”. 

Afterwards, the disgraced Markins launched into the old, tired tirade of blaming the opposition NDC.

Meanwhile, the disgraceful saga of Afenyo Markins’ lying misadventure has thrown open an interesting revelation. According to Afenyo Markins, he was misled into using that picture by a website where he had sought the information from.

He claims the said website has since removed the picture after it became clear that the picture was fake. This has exposed Markins as lacking in research skills for his position as an MP and that his words must be weighed carefully for credibility whenever he makes bold claims.

While presenting the fake picture from Sierra Leone, Afenyo Markins had told journalists at a press conference that the picture was from scientific research that had been carried out into the Volta Coast tidal waves.

“This is where I am appealing to stakeholders in that region to work together with those involved in sand winning because the research is clearly pointing to the fact that these activities are making the people more vulnerable and it will cost the nation more money in terms of recovering, settling disputes,” the Deputy Majority leader claimed.