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Ransford Edward Van Gyampo, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, has said the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) victory in the 2020 elections is “contestable.”

He says comments made by a stalwart of the party and 2024 flag bearer aspirant, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, is an indication that Ghanaians did not give power to Akufo-Addo in 2020.

The political science lecturer, who was criticising the NPP’s assertion that voter apathy contributed to their humiliating defeat in the 2024 elections said the party needs to look beyond the apathy to establish what contributed to their abysmal performance.

Speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, December 28, 2024, Prof. Gyampo asked Ghanaians not to be swayed by the early concession of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia as an indication of one’s willingness to transfer power peacefully.

According to him, it would take those without deep understanding of the political dynamics to make such conclusions, calling on Ghanaians to take a cue from Ken Agyapong’s pronouncements on the NPP’s victory in 2020.

He explained that many things led to the NPP’s defeat which it is trying to cover up with voter apathy, citing Ken Agyapong’s comments as an indication that the party did not even win the 2020 elections that gave Akufo-Addo his second term.

“In the first place, it is contestable, the idea that even the NPP won the 2020 elections itself is contestable because their own Ken Agyapong kept saying ‘Y’anfa y’ani kaan na ewinii abatoɔ no o. Moyɛ a yɛbɛkyerɛ mo kwan a yɛfaaso a yɛ winii yɛ‘ to wit (we didn’t win the elections on fair grounds and if you joke, we’ll show you how we won it).

“So, even the 2020 elections, they did not truly win,” Gyampo stated.

He continued that the NPP lost the 2024 elections from 2022, where he said he started chronicling the ills of the government that led to the party’s disgraceful defeat in 2024.

Gyampo described as propaganda, the idea of blaming voter apathy for their woes to cover up their ineptitude and incompetence that led to their disgraceful defeat in the Saturday, December 07, 2024 polls.

“But for the 2024 elections, I’m telling them that, they lost, beginning 2022. We have chronicled all the factors from 2022. The idea that NPP lost the election because people did not go out to vote is an unnecessary spewing of propaganda to mask and hide their own incompetence and bad governance,” he explained further.

He went on to explain why early concession of defeat is not a guarantee of willingness to hand over power.

Early concession of election defeat doesn’t guarantee peaceful transfer of power – Gyampo