NPP flagbearer race, whose turn is it?  

I posed this question in my article published on August 31 this year. The long-awaited presidential primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was held over the weekend with Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, elected as the flagbearer of the party for the 2024 general elections. By extension, he becomes the new leader of the NPP.

In all 204,144 delegates which consist of polling station executives in 38,622 polling stations among others went to the polls on Saturday, November 4, 2023, to decide who would become the party’s flagbearer.

Four candidates contested for the flag­bearer race. They were Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, former Agric Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, and Francis Addai-Nimoh.

He won the poll with 118,210 votes, representing 61.47 per cent, while his closest contender, Mr Kenedy Ohene Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central came second with 71,996 votes representing 37.41 per cent while Dr Afriyie Akoto, who placed a distant third, received 1,459 votes, repre­senting 0.76 per cent, Mr Addai-Nimoh garnered a mere 781 votes, representing 0.38 per cent.

It had been predicted that Bawumia was going to win with a larger margin but as promised, Kennedy Ohene Ag­yapong gave him a “showdown”.

Bawumia won in all other but the Central and the Volta regions which was won by Ken Agyapong. Addai Nimo and Afriyie Akoto’s performances in the election were so abysmal.

These four were elected out of 10 flagbearer aspirants in August this year by 956 selected dele­gates of the party.

Mr Alan Kyere­maten who was shortlisted as part of the top five candidates going into the final selection on November 4, 2023, decided to withdraw citing “bla­tant alienation of his supporters which according to him were orchestrated by elements aligned to the leadership of the NPP. He subsequently resigned from the party. Would the story and especially the results be as we had last Saturday if he had remained in the race to the last stretch?

For the members of the party, there was one common goal for the elect­ed flagbearer. This is to honour the much-touted acclaimed mantra “break­ing the eight.” Something that has never happened in the history of the Fourth Republic.

By breaking the eight, the NPP be­lieves it is going to end the cycle or pat­tern of Ghanaians voting out political parties after they have served for two, four-year tenures, that is, eight years.

Ahead of the polls, each of the aspi­rants projected themselves as better than others to break the eight. A philoso­pher has noted that “eight is a complex number in shape. It is well-rounded at both ends and on both sides. Breaking the figure eight, for me, is a difficult en­deavour. It cannot therefore be broken unless it is destroyed, then it is no longer the figure eight.

Indeed, all of the aspirants claimed he was the best candidate for the NPP to be able to neutralise the strongholds of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2024.

One political party in Ghana that believes in traditions and arguably has worked for them is the NPP the tables have dramatically turned perhaps turned against the system’s favourites.

For instance, one of its prominent and cherished traditions over the years has been the “The Danquah-Dombo-Bu­sia.” This tradition is perhaps the oldest surviving political tradition in Gha­na today and dates back as far as 1947 be­fore Ghana at­tained inde­pen­dence. It emanates from its main lead­ing figures and the role they played in establishing the party’s ideologies and objectives.

Part of the consideration is that some party members, look at the original birthplaces of these giants in the party as leadership plugging points. J. B. Dan­quah hailing from Kyebi is considered to be from the southern section of the country with K. A. Busia, from Wen¬chi in the Bono Region, being considered to come from the middle belt while S. D. Dombo, Jirapa, is placed at the northern sector of the country.

The argument is that there have been three Ghanaian Presidents, from this established tradition, coming from two of these sections of the country, K.A. Busia and K. A. Kufour from the middle belt with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo coming from the south­ern section of the country. What is left now is the northern sector which has not seen any member of the tradition leading the party let alone becoming a president of the land.

To many a Ghanaian, this might be the considerable reason why the sitting Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has to lead the NPP this time. Much as politics is about numbers, it is also about timing and seasons. Normally issues and circumstances change per timing and the seasons. This is why it has changed.

Significantly, Dr Bawumia’s victory appears monumental in Ghana’s polit­ical history especially for the NPP as he becomes the first non-Akan to lead the NPP into a general election after serving as the running mate to President Akufo-Addo since 2008.

The 60-year-old economist and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana has served as second-in-com­mand and the face of economic policy throughout the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is due to step down in January 2025 after serv­ing the consti­tutionally mandated eight years.

Beyond these, there is much more work to be done, if indeed the eight must be broken especially to clear the economic mess among others.

The nation is undergoing its worst economic trouble in years. This is appar­ently going to be the discussion point around the election. The major reason why the opposition National Democrat­ic Congress (NDC) changed its hier­archy in both the party and parliament settings.

For now, the sitting Vice President has taken over the mantle of the leadership role of the party he was accused of being a novice from his mentor Presi­dent Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo after 16 years of tenure. Eight years of struggle and eight years in power.

According to President Akufo-Ad­do, he believes Dr Bawumia would be able to unite the party and mobilise the base to retain power during next year’s general elections. This calls for concert­ed efforts from all aspirants to fortify the front. It was therefore refreshing that all the candidates appeared in unity at the victory parade on Saturday night to pledge their unflinching support and assistance to the newly elected flagbearer and the party in general to again win power.

In the words of former President of the Philippines Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo, “We have to be bold in our national ambitions. First, we must win the fight against poverty within the next decade. Second, we must improve moral standards in government and society to provide a strong foundation for good governance. Third, we must change the character of our politics to promote fertile ground for reforms.”

 BY NANA SEFA TWUM (PHD)