The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Development Company, Professor Kobby Mensah, says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has retrogressed in all forms since the end of President John Agyekum Kufuor’s tenure in 2008.
According to Prof. Mensah, who is also a political marketing strategist, the NPP under President Kufuor was once an inclusive and attractive party filled with capable and respected figures.
Speaking on Accra-based TV3’s New Day show on Wednesday, June 25, he stated that the Akufo-Addo era saw the party shrink into a small group of individuals who lacked broad appeal and influence.
“Kufuor had the ability to bring in quite a diverse group of people who could actually perform. That’s where the ‘we have the men’ slogan came in, you know. Back then, when we were young, you could easily stand and mention not less than 10 NPP people who were stellar — you could talk about J.H. Mensah, Akufo-Addo himself, and President Kufuor.
“These were people who were leaders of the NPP, and each of them could be a presidential candidate. You can imagine how Kufuor could pull these people together,” said Prof. Mensah.
He added that the party, in recent years, appears to lack leadership and innovative ideas to remain strong and competitive.
“Under Akufo-Addo, NPP was about himself, Bawumia, and Free SHS. Since 2008, this party has become personality-dominant as opposed to collective—and that’s worrying. The party has regressed. Leadership is weak, reasoning is weak, and solutions are weak,” he asserted.
His comments follow the NPP’s recent decision to hold its 2028 flagbearer election on January 31, 2026—a move that has sparked criticism from various quarters.
