The New Patriotic Party, with all its track record and achievements from President Kufuor’s era, as well as largely considered to be the political entity endowed with the most competent, knowledgeable people and elites in the country, suffered, arguably the most humiliating electoral defeat in its history in the 2024 General Elections.
Why The NPP Lost
Reflecting on the reasons that contributed to the party’s embarrassing defeat, these factors readily come to mind even without taking the pain or stress to embark on any rigorous probe or investigation. These factors which alienated voters and ultimately led to the NPP’s downfall, are;
- President Akufo Addo’s disrespect towards Chiefs and the traditional authority. The former President’s disrespect towards traditional authorities, particularly, in instances where chiefs were instructed to stand and greet him, is believed to have contributed immensely to the party’s defeat. Particular instances are his interactions with a chief in the Oti Region and the Dormaahene in separate cases, which this unpresidential and disrespectful conduct towards traditional leaders was seen as undermining the dignity of an important and sensitive institution, chieftaincy, in the country.
- President Akufo Addo’s endorsement of President Mahama. Just a week to the 2024 General Elections, Akufo Addo in a passionate appeal entreated and urged Ghanaians to vote for the “Ex” in the elections. This was widely interpreted to be an endorsement of Mahama since he was the only Ex-president in the race.
- Nuisance taxes. It is also believed that, the introduction of nuisance taxes such as betting tax, E-levy and COVID levy burdened and infuriated the Ghanaian voter.
- GRA’s harassment of traders. Members of the business community constantly complained of being victims of the incessant harassment by the Ghana Revenue Authority over the years in the name of the collection of revenue for the State. The traders blamed the government for the level of frustration that they continued to suffer at the hands of the officials of GRA.
- The public perception of President Akufo Addo controlling a future administration of Bawumia. Although Bawumia would not have allowed that, there was a strong perception that a future Bawumia government was going to be an extension of the then Akufo Addo government, and would therefore be controlled and micromanaged by Akufo Addo and his cabal. Committed to liberating themselves off anything related to Akufo Addo and his cabal, Ghanaians conveniently decided to vote against Bawumia in order to truncate any chance that Akufo Addo and his cabal had in getting close to the seat of government again.
Whiles the aforementioned factors contributed to Bawumia’s defeat, what people do not know is, contrary to popular belief, Akufo Addo rather took a conscious decision to sabotage and undermine the presidential aspirations of his Vice.
Why And How Akufo Addo Sabotaged Bawumia
Immediately after the presidential primary of the NPP which elected Dr. Bawumia as the party’s candidate, a national officer of the party hinted the President that Dr. Bawumia had surrounded himself with pro-Kufuor elements, and even intended to constitute a team that would be dominated by pro-Kufuor persons such as the former MP for Subin, Frederick Opare Ansah, MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Dr. Ayew Afriye, the former General Secretary of the party, Kwabena Agyei Agyapong and a host of others. Indeed, the NPP Presidential Candidate constituted a team which was spearheaded by these figures and other perceived loyalists of Kufuor, a move that clearly didn’t go down well with Akufo Addo.
Infuriated by this development, Akufo Addo decided to conduct himself in a manner that would undermine the chances of Dr. Bawumia in the 2024 Elections. People may not have paid a careful attention, but some of the gaffes and mistakes committed by the former President were very amateurish and undeserving of an experienced politician such as Akufo Addo. Well, some of us do not find those actions surprising as they were intended to cause disaffection for his own Vice President. And reference can be made to the decision to tour the Ashanti Region in a helicopter which stirred public outrage, as well as the infamous snobbish remarks he made in reaction to the poor roads concerns raised by the people of Kwabre East on radio. For the former President to have dismissed the harmless demands of the constituency that gives the NPP the highest number of votes across the country, to the extent of subtly telling them to vote for the NDC if they want to, undermined the party’s chances in the elections.
What is even more concerning was the former President’s decision to outshine and dominate the party’s Flagbearer in all activities and moments that could have given the latter some projection, and also cushioned his approval ratings. Ordinarily, one would have expected the Presidential Candidate of the ruling party to benefit from incumbency advantage through programmes such as project sod-cuttings and commissions, but that was not the case as the former President sidelined Dr. Bawumia in all such activities after relegating him in the governance and management of the affairs of the country.
Last but not least, to ensure that Dr. Bawumia’s presidential project is crippled and deprived of funding, Akufo Addo discouraged potential financiers with the claim that the Ghanaian society, dominated by Christians, was not going to vote for a Muslim president. Deep throat sources reveal that, Akufo Addo then advised the financiers to support the campaign of Mahama rather, based on which they did.
Indeed, Bawumia’s painful defeat was largely orchestrated by Akufo Addo, in order to preserve and strengthen his (Akufo Addo) stranglehold on the party, since from all indications, Bawumia was not ready to be a puppet of the Akufo Addo cabal, and that was very clear and evident even in the team Bawumia assembled for his presidential campaign.
