Former Ghana High Commissioner to India, H.E. Kwaku Asomah Cheremeh has attributed the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) loss in the 2024 presidential election to its flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
In an interview on Success FM’s morning show monitored by Kumasimail, Cheremeh voiced concerns about Bawumia’s ability to unite the party’s traditional strongholds and win over critical demographic groups.
Cheremeh explained that Ghanaians neither wanted nor needed Dr. Bawumia as the nation’s leader.
He argued that several of the promises Bawumia made to both the party and the public ultimately failed to materialize, resulting in widespread disappointment among voters.
“Dr. Bawumia assured us that being a Northerner and a Zongo native, he could deliver all the Zongo votes and secure the backing of the five northern regions,” Cheremeh stated.
“He claimed that, alongside the support from regions like Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central, and Western, the NPP would clinch victory.” However, Cheremeh underscored that the expected results never followed.
Cheremeh recounted the post-election realities, “The Zongo votes were a significant target, but we lost every Zongo constituency across the country except for Winneba. Our only Zongo win was in the Afenyo Markin constituency, Winneba, in the Central Region.”
When the host questioned whether the Winneba Zongo victory should be credited to Dr. Bawumia or to the sitting Member of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo Markin, Cheremeh responded, “Exactly, it was due to Afenyo Markin’s personal relationship with his constituents, not the flagbearer. In other areas, such as the constituencies of Hon. Eric Opoku and Hon. Collins Dauda, it is personal connection and grassroots involvement that consistently yield results, not mere party allegiance.”
According to Cheremeh, this pattern continued in the Northern Region, where the NPP suffered heavy losses.
He shared instances of NPP polling station officers failing to muster even five votes, the number required to account for their presence at their own polling stations, suggesting a deep disconnect between the flagbearer and the rank and file.
“In the Northern Region, we lost miserably, including at polling stations where the NPP had five people serving as polling station officers, yet we still lost. Regarding leadership, if we truly wanted the leader (Dr. Bawumia), how is it that our own elected polling station officers ended up scoring zero votes at the polling stations? At least those five should have voted for us, but we got zero. There were about 30 constituencies with similar dynamics,” he said.
“This indicates that the leader chosen to carry the party’s banner Dr. Bawumia was not the preferred choice. For the first time in our history, the NPP lost seven constituencies in the Ashanti Region, a result unprecedented even during the 1992 boycott.”
Cheremeh concluded that the lack of enthusiasm for Bawumia among party faithful and the broader public was a decisive factor in the NPP’s electoral defeat.
“When the leader carries the lamp, calling the masses, and they do not follow, it means the people do not want him,” he remarked.
Source: www.Kumasimail/Kwadwo Owusu
