To avoid further misunderstandings and disintegration within the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the party’s leaders had better respect, and stick to, their party constitution, both written and unwritten, regardless of the omen or looming crisis.
It is an indisputable fact etched in stones that the disruptive disputes among, and withdrawals from NPP by, some of their leading members during and after their presidential primaries or congress, emanated from the non-strict adherence to their party policies. The rules were changed by their National Executive Committee (NEC) to favour one, or certain individual(s) when they called an emergency meeting.
This led to Mr Boakye Agyarko and others pulling out of the race with Mr Kwadwo Alan Kyeremateng withdrawing completely from NPP to finally contest the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate.
All, or most of the party’s big men withdrawing took away their supporting members and family, thereby numerically diminishing the eligible voters for NPP. No wonder that NPP lost election 2024 very woefully, and unprecedented in the annals of Ghana politics or general elections.
Most of the NPP leaders at some point concluded that the party would lose the election if Dr Bawumia of northern Ghana extraction was not allowed to lead the party as her presidential candidate into election 2024, hence were panicked to alter the party’s regulations to favour his selection. This in the nick of time changes, based on the fear of NPP massively losing the northern Ghana votes because they had persistently been accused of NPP being an Akan party that would never allow a northerner to lead it, rather augmented the defeat of NPP.
The northerners, and especially the Muslims that we all hoped would vote massively for Dr Bawumia, rather voted massively for his opponent, former President John Dramani Mahama, and the NDC.
Dr Bawumia lost four out of the five northern Ghana regions as well as the Muslim votes. How do NDC and the leaders of NPP explain this away?
If he had not been allowed to lead NPP, the NDC would have capitalised on their usual accusation and along with NPP and many Ghanaians, to blame the end defeat of NPP on their failure to field a northerner as their leader.
Now that whoever is leading the party does not necessary count or matter, concluding from the election 2024 results, I will only advise the leaders of NPP and her members to allow fairness to always prevail despite the odds. Let this lesson guide you into future elections.
Had the mythically established 8-yearly cyclical change of political baton between NPP and NDC, the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine war, and the presidential candidate on whose birthday, as in the days of the week, thus Monday, Tuesday, etc, is held emerging the winner, contributed to the defeat of Dr Bawumia?
Whatever the reason might be, I strongly advise and suggest to the leaders of NPP to stick fully their written internal regulations without rushing to change them to favour a particular individual(s) to prevent the repeat of the circumstances that led to their disastrous defeat in election 2024.
