Celebrated investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has said that former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia stands tall among all the flagbearer aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win power for the NPP either in 2028 or 2032.
The NPP goes to the polls on Saturday, January 31, to elect a flagbearer as part of their preparations for the 2028 general elections.
In a Facebook post, Manasseh said that in the current race, Dr Bawumia’s closest contender is Kennedy Agyapong, who contested the 2023 primaries and lost to Dr Bawumia.
In the 2024 general elections, he said, the NPP lost both the presidential and parliamentary elections in Kennedy Agyapong’s home constituency and home region, Assin Central Constituency and the Central Region.
Dr Bawumia, after what many believe is the worst performance by a government in Ghana’s recent history, won almost 5 million votes, representing about 42% of the national vote in the 2024 presidential election. The exact figure is 4,877,611 of the valid votes cast, representing 41.75%., he added.
“While Dr Bawumia won 42% of the presidential votes, the NPP won 32% of parliamentary seats. These figures show that the defeat of the NPP in 2024 represented a rejection of the party, and not just the candidate.
“Dr Bawumia’s home region, the North East Region, was the only region in Northern Ghana that the NPP won the presidential election and did not have minority parliamentary seats. Dr Bawumia’s candidature did not have the goodwill that Akufo-Addo’s candidature inherited from the Kufuor administration. Anger against the Akufo-Addo administration was mounting, and whoever contested on the NPP ticket was bound to face the wrath of voters. If anyone is closer to winning power for the NPP, either in 2028 or 2032, Dr Bawumia stands tallest among the current cast of untested hands,” Manasseh said.
Similarly, Former Vice Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, said Dr Bawumia remains the right leader for the NPP going into the 2028 general elections.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, a former Minister of Education, said in a Facebook post that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia remains the right leader for our party at this critical moment.”
He further expressed the hope that the party will emerge united after the internal elections.
“I also underscored the importance of a peaceful and credible process as we head into Saturday.
“Through it all, my belief remains firm. The elephant will emerge victorious, and as a united party, we will all rally behind whoever is chosen to sit on it,” he said.
