For years, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has proudly projected itself as a “party of intellectuals,” often highlighting the professional and academic credentials of its leading figures. Against that backdrop, the party’s decision in 2026 to elect Kojo Bamba, a former leader of the pro-NPP grassroots group Delta Force and former bodyguard of Nana B, as its First Vice Chairman has generated considerable political discussion.
Some commentators have sought to draw parallels between Bamba and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s First Vice Chairman, Chief Sofo Awudu Azorka.
While the two men now occupy comparable positions within their respective political parties, such comparisons require considerable qualification. Their political trajectories, institutional backgrounds and levels of formal party leadership experience are fundamentally different.
The issue, therefore, is not whether Kojo Bamba has political experience. He does. The more important question is the nature, depth and duration of that experience.
Chief Azorka: A Journey Through the Party Structure
Chief Sofo Awudu Azorka’s rise within the NDC has largely been through the formal organisational structures of the party.
He served as Northern Regional Chairman of the NDC before moving into the party’s national leadership. In November 2018, he was elected National Vice Chairman.
His standing within the party was subsequently reinforced at the NDC’s December 2022 National Delegates Congress, where he retained his position as First Vice Chairman. He secured 2,707 votes, the highest number recorded by any of the candidates for the three vice-chairmanship positions.
By 2026, Azorka had accumulated approximately eight years of experience within the NDC’s national vice-chairmanship structure, in addition to his earlier tenure as a Regional Chairman.
His political progression can therefore be broadly summarised as:
Northern Regional Chairman → National Vice Chairman → First Vice Chairman → Acting National Chairman.
The final stage is particularly significant.
In 2025, when NDC National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia travelled outside the country, Azorka was entrusted with the responsibility of acting as National Chairman. That responsibility placed him, albeit temporarily, at the head of the party’s national organisational structure.
It is therefore difficult to characterise Azorka simply as a politician who has risen through grassroots activism into a senior position. His record reflects a sustained progression through formal party leadership, from the regional level to the national executive.
His current position as First Vice Chairman is consequently backed by years of institutional experience within the NDC.
Kojo Bamba: From Grassroots Activism to National Executive
Kojo Bamba’s political journey has followed a markedly different route.
Bamba, who hails from Asafo in Kumasi, previously worked as an auto mechanic before becoming increasingly involved in partisan politics.
His name became particularly prominent through his association with the Delta Force, a pro-NPP grassroots group that operated in the Ashanti Region.
The group attracted national attention in March 2017 when some of its members stormed the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council and forcibly removed the then Regional Security Coordinator, George Adjei, from his office. Bamba was subsequently arrested and brought before the court in connection with the incident.
His political career later transitioned into the formal structures of the NPP.
Around 2019, he was appointed Deputy National Director of Operations of the party’s youth wing, marking an important step from grassroots political activism into the formal organisational machinery of the NPP.
In 2026, he took another significant step when NPP delegates elected him First Vice Chairman of the party.
That decision belongs to the delegates and, as with every democratic party process, deserves to be respected.
But respecting that decision does not require pretending that Bamba and Azorka have identical political histories.
Experience Is Not Always the Same Thing
This is where the comparison between the two men becomes problematic.
Both are experienced in politics, but their experiences have been acquired through different pathways.
Azorka’s record is characterised by extended service within the formal leadership structures of the NDC. His journey includes regional chairmanship, national vice-chairmanship, first vice-chairmanship and a period of acting as National Chairman.
Bamba’s political trajectory, by contrast, has been rooted more strongly in grassroots mobilisation and activism before his subsequent movement into the formal structures of the NPP.
His journey can broadly be described as:
Grassroots activism → Delta Force leadership → Deputy National Director of Operations of the NPP youth wing → First Vice Chairman.
That is a legitimate political trajectory. It is, however, not the same trajectory as Azorka’s.
The distinction is therefore not about dismissing Bamba’s experience because of his background as an auto mechanic, nor is it about suggesting that grassroots political activism has no value. Political parties require people with different backgrounds, skills and experiences.
Rather, the distinction concerns the type, depth and length of formal party leadership experience accumulated by the two men.
The Choice of NPP Delegates
The NPP’s election of Kojo Bamba as First Vice Chairman is ultimately a political decision made by the party’s delegates.
It must be respected.
Indeed, the democratic legitimacy of political parties depends on their members being free to choose the leaders they believe can best advance their interests and objectives.
But political analysis must also be grounded in facts.
The election of Bamba to a position similar to that occupied by Azorka does not automatically make their political records comparable in every respect.
Positions may be similar while the paths taken to reach those positions are entirely different.
Azorka arrived at the NDC’s national leadership through years of formal party organisation and executive responsibility, beginning at the regional level and eventually reaching the national leadership. Bamba’s rise has been more closely associated with grassroots political mobilisation, followed by entry into the formal organisational structures of the NPP and, ultimately, election to the party’s second-highest vice-chairmanship position.
That distinction matters when assessing political experience.
No Need to Manufacture Equivalence
There is nothing inherently wrong with comparing political figures from opposing parties. Such comparisons can help voters and political observers understand the strengths, weaknesses and institutional cultures of the respective parties.
But comparisons are meaningful only when they account for the actual records of the individuals involved.
Chief Sofo Awudu Azorka and Kojo Bamba may now occupy similar positions within the NDC and NPP respectively. Their political journeys, however, are not identical.
Azorka’s record reflects a lengthy progression through formal regional and national party leadership, culminating in his current position as First Vice Chairman and his previous role as Acting National Chairman.
Bamba’s record reflects a different path: from his professional background as an auto mechanic, through grassroots political activism and the Delta Force period, into formal party organisational work and, eventually, national executive leadership.
Both journeys are politically significant.
But they are not the same.
And acknowledging that difference is not an attack on Kojo Bamba or a rejection of the mandate given to him by NPP delegates. It is simply an insistence that political comparisons should be based on the actual records of the people being compared.
Chief Azorka and Kojo Bamba may now occupy similar positions, but their political trajectories, institutional experience and records within their respective parties are fundamentally different.
Never manufacture equivalence where the political records do not support it.
