Former Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has acknowledged that NPP flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia\u2019s campaign lacked the expected enthusiasm, signaling the challenges ahead for the party in last year’s election.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview with the press, the chairman of the NPP’s manifesto committee, reflected on findings from the Ashanti Regional regarding the party\u2019s significant loss in the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n
He noted that in previous elections, large crowds would gather in towns and cities to show support, but this was notably absent in 2024.<\/p>\n
‘I started seeing signs that the election would not be easy, but we still hoped for a better outcome. The fact that the elections were held in December allowed us to regain some support.<\/p>\n
‘If they had been conducted in August, Dr Bawumia would have polled around 30% against John Mahama because, at that time, economic hardships were severe.<\/p>\n
‘However, conditions improved as we approached the elections, including the economic situation,’ he said.<\/p>\n
The NPP flagbearer polled 4,877,611 votes (41.75%) against his key contender John Mahama who got 6,591,790 (56.42%).<\/p>\n
The Ashanti region findings highlighted key factors contributing to the NPP\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n
Among them were the party\u2019s internal delegate system for selecting leaders, which affected grassroots mobilization, and the prevailing economic hardships, which eroded public confidence<\/p>\n
According to Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, President Akufo-Addo had been cautioned in 2017 by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II about the dangers of allowing Ghanaians to become \u201chungry and angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that this warning was ignored, and economic struggles following COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war negatively impacted the party\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n
Additionally, perceptions of corruption, President Akufo-Addo\u2019s leadership style – viewed as rigid and single-minded – and accusations that the government was controlled by his family further alienated voters.<\/p>\n
There were also concerns that Dr Bawumia was too closely associated with the President and, being a Mamprusi, was linked to conflicts in the North, particularly in Bawku.<\/p>\n
Another major concern was the perception that the Ashanti region, a traditional stronghold of the NPP, had been neglected in terms of infrastructure development.<\/p>\n
This created a disconnect between the regional and constituency levels of the party.<\/p>\n
Despite these challenges, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stressed that many NPP supporters were open about their grievances and indicated that they would return if necessary changes were made.<\/p>\n
Regarding the party\u2019s future leadership, he stated that while former President Akufo-Addo was no longer the party leader, any potential flagbearer would need to build upon his legacy.<\/p>\n
As for whether Dr. Bawumia should continue as the party\u2019s leader, he said this would depend on findings from the other 15 regions.<\/p>\n
‘So far, respondents in the Ashanti region have said the loss was not related to Bawumia\u2019s religion or ethnicity.<\/p>\n
‘We are waiting to hear from the other regions on his candidature. If there is a consensus, that will guide our decision moving forward.<\/p>\n
On Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh\u2019s selection as Dr Bawumia\u2019s running mate, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that while many people had urged him to take the position, he declined.<\/p>\n
He noted that Dr Bawumia preferred a running mate from the Ashanti region with parliamentary experience, making Opoku-Prempeh a strategic choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cNapo is an experienced MP, and his age made him a viable successor should Dr Bawumia complete two terms.<\/p>\n
‘His selection was also aimed at bridging the divide within the party between the Kufuor\/Kyerematen and Akufo-Addo\/Adu Boahen factions. While there were expectations that he would energise the youth vote, that did not materialise.’<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the future of Dr. Bawumia as the party\u2019s flagbearer and his choice of running mate would depend on the findings from the remaining regions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has acknowledged that NPP flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia\u2019s campaign lacked the expected enthusiasm, signaling the challenges ahead for the party in last year’s election. In a recent interview with the press, the chairman of the NPP’s manifesto committee, reflected on findings from the Ashanti Regional regarding the party\u2019s significant loss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1885,1271,2662],"class_list":["post-10294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-dr-mahamadu-bawumia","tag-election-2024","tag-osei-kyei-mensah-bonsu-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10296,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10294\/revisions\/10296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}