The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Vetting Committee cleared all the five aspirants seeking to lead the Party as its flagbearer in the 2020 elections. The qualified presidential aspirants included Ing. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, a Civil Engineer and a prominent figure in the presidential campaigns of Prof Albert Adu Boahen, J. A Kufour and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. He was latter appointed Press Secretary to President J. A Kufour and elected General Secretary of the NPP in 2014. Honourable Kennedy Agyepong is a former MP for Assin Central and Assin South, a business man, and owning many media outlets in Ghana. Hon. Dr. Bryan Acheampong is the current MP for Abetifi Constituency, entrepreneur, philanthropist and a former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mister of State at the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of National Security. Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum is the current MP for Bosomtwe Constituency and a former Minister of Education. Last but not the least is Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia. He is a banker and economist by training and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana. He is also the immediate past Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. 

These five individuals are good men who contributed in diverse ways to the growth and development of our Party. They gentlemen are not unknown to most of the delegates. They have served Ghana and the NPP in particular in various capacities with distinction.

This exercise is a pathway to meet the provisions of Article 13(a) of the NPP Constitution as amended in 2025. The ultimate effect is the selection of a candidate in January, 2026 to contest Ghana’s 10^th presidential elections since the 4^th Republican Constitution began in 1993. Our polling station executives, regional executives, national executives, NPP Members of Parliament, former NPP executives and many others as stipulated by the amended NPP Constitution are expected to cast their votes to select the Party’s flagbearer on 31^st Jan. The NPP delegates must know that the exercise is not a mere joke and business as usual. It is about the very survival of the NPP going into election 2028 and beyond. Our delegates’ interest must rise above personal gains and ethnocentric attachments. 

Although we seek God’s protection as a political party throughout this exercise to select our flagbearer, it is in itself not a spiritual exercise. Religious sects (Christian, Muslim and Traditional) have played various roles to shape Ghana since independence but the Constitution makes Ghana a secular state. The delegates are expected to select a flagbearer with mass appeal across all ethnic, religion and class groups. 

History must guide the NPP delegates as we approach 31^st Jan, 2026. Following the defeat of J. A Kufour in the 1996 presidential, among the many challenges that confronted the leadership of the NPP was how to reconcile reaping the benefits of retaining past presidential candidates for the sake of continuity and at the same time preserving the letter and spirit of the NPP’s Constitution to respect the democratic right of each member to seek for any office of choice. 

Insiders realized that the NPP’s “open door” policy to respect the right of every member prevented it from building on the reputation of past presidential candidates after they have already attracted national attention and gotten familiar with the electorate. The Party realized how wasteful it was to not take into consideration the financial and logistical efforts expended on previous presidential candidates. In his book entitled The Danquah-Busia Tradition in the Politics of Ghana, Kantinka K. Donkoh Fordwor re-stated the position of the Party and admonished future delegates to understand how it is “sometimes advisable to have patience and stick with a candidate who had been successfully marketed at great expense” notwithstanding the right of delegates to replace a candidate that performed poorly in a previous election. 

The Party Constitution fixed the next National Delegates Conference to elect the Party’s flagbearer on 24^th of October, 1998 in Sunyani. As usual with the NPP, six individuals filed nomination papers to contest for its flagbearership position. Although five aspirants filed to contest for the NPP flagbearer, it was clear it was a straightforward fight between J. A Kufour and Nana Akufo Addo – the former campaigned on the slogan of ‘continuity’ and the latter campaigned on the slogan of ‘change’ in 2000. 

In their own wisdom, the NPP delegates, voted for J.A Kufour to consolidate on the gains made in the 1996 presidential elections. It was a joyous day for all party delegates when Nana Akufo Addo who lost in the contest declared:

“This is the day the Lord Has made the people to speak. I am a democrat and I accept the verdict.”

Following the voting trends in Ghana since 1992 it was only Jerry John Rawlings is the only contested who contested once and won in 1992 and again in 1996. The factors which were attributable to this feat is best known to all. All other presidential contestants from the NPP and NDC attempted more than once before victory. Mr. J. A Kufour was second time lucky when the NPP repeated him in 2000. He won in a run-off. 

n/a – Not applicable (candidate not a contestant)

• - Not successful
• - Successful

The rational choice made by the NPP delegates to repeat J. A Kufour at the delegates’ congress in 1998 resulted in him convincingly winning the presidential contest in 2000. Subsequently, the value of repeating presidential candidates by the two main political parties in Ghana seems to have been institutionalized. It confirm the fundamental ingredient in probability theory that a repeated event in several trials under a particular condition can lead to an outcome different from its previous result. It is therefore strategic for delegates to have patience and vote massively for Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia as the next NPP’s flagbearer for election 2028. He is undoubtedly the most marketed, humble and competent to win in 2028 at his second attempt. 

Stephen Yir-eru Engmen (PhD)

Lawra

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