A member of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Eric Kevin Elikem Kwame Kotoko, has accused the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) of deceiving its grassroots, following the election of its regional executives on Saturday, August 15, 2026.
He says the roadmap that was adopted by the leadership was not followed to the letter, clearly exposing their intent to skew the process to favour Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the former Vice President, as the party’s flagbearer.
According to him, the decision to make a U-turn to a bottom-up approach to elect executives after electing the flagbearer first and promising to follow suit with all other elections clearly indicates how deceptive the leadership has been to the party base.
Commenting on the aftermath of the polls on the BigIssue segment of the NewDay morning show on TV3 on Monday, August 17, 2026, Kotoko noted that the quick change of plans by the party after insisting on a top-down approach to elect its executives was nothing but a ploy to rig the system in Bawumia’s favour.
“The only thing I find troubling is that it appeared they deceived their members,” he noted, explaining that “initially, the plan was that they had made a u-turn to start the election from flagbearer to national executives to region.”
“But any smart person could tell that this was a deliberate ploy to just kill the system for one candidate and none other than Alhaji Mahmoud Bawumia,” he added.
He said the decision defies logic. “So, they elected the flagbearer, then suddenly they made a U-turn and said they are starting from the base again. Everybody wondered why you would start an election of executives from the top.”
NPP regional elections
Delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) across the country voted to elect regional executives.
The elections, held on August 15, were keenly contested judging from the outcome.
Among the various positions contested, the most influential is the Regional Chairman position.
Here is the list of Regional Chairmen-elect based on provisional results declared by the Electoral Commission’s officials who supervised the elections:
1. Western Region – Ignatius Kwasi Africa
2. Savannah Region – Alhaji Iddrisu Sulemana
3. Bono Region – Kwame Baffoe Abronye
- Greater Accra Region – Bernard Okoe-Boye
- Ashanti Region – Odeneho Kwaku Appiah
- Eastern Region – Jeff Konadu Addo
- Central Region – Joseph Kobinah Esibu
- Western North Region – (To be conducted on 16th August, 2026)
- Ahafo Region – Robert Sarfo Mensah
- Northern Region – Mohammed Baatima Adam (Samba)
- North East Region – Alhaji Mohammed Fuseini
- Upper East Region – Elvis Awonekai Figo
- Upper West Region – Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman
- Volta Region – Makafui Kofi Woanya
- Oti Region – Dr Frank Yirenkyi
- Bono East Region – Ibrahim Bukari Baba
New Western North NPP executives pledge to reclaim parliamentary seats in 2028
