Former Abetifi MP and aspiring NPP flagbearer, Dr Bryan Acheampong, says the New Patriotic Party has never rewarded failure with repeated candidature.
He insists the party has always returned candidates based on performance, not sympathy or logic. He says history shows the NPP returns winners, not losers.
Speaking on PM Express, Dr Acheampong took direct aim at claims that former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia should be retained as flagbearer based on party tradition.
He argued that long-term marketing without electoral improvement cannot justify another chance.
“Everything that you have ends at 41%,” he said, stressing that Dr Bawumia had been marketed for 16 years. “Eight years as Vice President, eight years as running mate. Sixteen years that we marketed him, he had 41%.”
He contrasted that with the party’s 2008 candidate. “We marketed Akufo-Addo for eight months; he had 49.7%.” He said the comparison exposes the problem. “So everything that you are saying, you are making his situation worse.”
Dr Acheampong said the 2024 results were damning. “He couldn’t get seven regions of this country.” He said the party “could not win a single constituency in the presidential election in 2024” in the Volta, Oti, Upper East, Upper West, Savannah, and Bono East regions.
He said five of those regions were in the northern half of Ghana, despite expectations. “When we were supporting him in 2023, one of the beliefs was that if we presented him, he would hold the votes from the northern part of Ghana for us.”
He extended the argument to other regions. “We could not win one western region, 17 constituencies; we won one presidential.” He said in the Central Region, “23 constituencies, we won two presidential.” He said Greater Accra was no different. “34 constituencies in Greater Accra, presidential, we got two.”
He said party delegates are reading the verdict clearly. “Those attributes and the results of the elections are the ones that the delegates are passing a verdict on.” He returned to his central argument.
“If we market you for 16 years, and you come out with 41%, and we market Akufo-Addo for eight months, and he gets 49.7% then there’s a difference.” He said the conclusion is simple. “The marketing did not yield the sales results, but people are going to change their product.”
When Evans Mensah suggested that political history shows parties often retain losing candidates, Dr Acheampong rejected the comparison.
“You’re mixing logic with politics and performance,” he said. He described the idea of automatic succession as mere logic.
“It is only logic which will suggest that Adu Boahen went once, Busia went once and won; Kufour went twice and won; Akufo-Addo went three times and won, and logically, it means that Dr Bawumia will go four times.”
He said the NPP’s actual decisions were driven by performance. “We’re talking about political performance.” He cited 1996. “In 1996, Kufuor did better than Adu Boahen, so we returned him.” He said it paid off. “In 2000, he won.” He said Kufuor improved again in 2004. “It was on performance.”
He said the same applied to Nana Akufo-Addo. “Akufo-Addo did better than Kufuor’s 2004.” He said the party returned him in 2012 because “what he got in 2012 he did better than what he himself got in 2008.” He said the improvement continued.
“We returned him in 2016 and won.” He added that even as president, Akufo-Addo improved his numbers. “Akufo-Addo did much better in 2020 than his own results in 2016; he did better.”
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