The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2024 presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has broken his silence on what he calls a dangerous trend of tribal and religious propaganda creeping into the party’s internal campaign.
Speaking to delegates at Mamprusi on Sunday, August 24, Dr. Bawumia described the tactics of some of his competitors as “desperate and uninformed,” stressing that such divisive strategies not only misrepresent Ghana’s political history but also risk weakening the unity of the NPP.
“As we prepare to go into the primaries, I am very, very concerned and troubled that some of our presidential aspirants have embarked on religious and tribal bigotry and propaganda against me in a desperate attempt to win votes,” he said.
The former Vice President-turned-flagbearer aspirant revealed that one of his contenders has openly urged delegates not to vote for him because of his Mamprusi identity, arguing that his ethnicity would cost the NPP support in Kusasi communities and beyond.
“An aspirant has said that delegates should not vote for me because I am a Mamprusi man and that we will lose votes in the Kusasi areas and other areas. This is very unfortunate and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the situation on the ground,” Dr. Bawumia lamented.
To dismantle this claim, he took his audience through a data-driven review of the NPP’s electoral history in the Moku Zone, which covers six parliamentary seats. According to him, since 1965, the NPP tradition has consistently struggled in that area, irrespective of who led the party or which ethnic group they represented.
“In the 11 elections since 1965, our tradition has had zero seats in six of them. In 1969, we had two. In 2000, we had one. In 2008, another one. In 2016, we managed two, and in 2020, one again. Then in 2024, it went back to zero,” he outlined.
Dr. Bawumia reminded delegates that the numbers speak for themselves, clearly showing that the Boku Zone has never been an NPP stronghold. He pointed out that even in the 2024 elections, the party’s total loss in that zone was only about 30,000 votes, which is not enough to explain the NPP’s nationwide defeat.
“This is not the Boku election that made us lose 2024. The data shows that the Boku factor was not a factor in the outcome of the 2024 elections, and we should stop moving in that direction,” he said firmly.
The NPP candidate urged his colleagues to focus on policies, ideas, and credible strategies to rebuild the party’s strength ahead of 2028, rather than fanning the flames of tribalism and religious suspicion.
For Dr. Bawumia, the lesson is simple: “When we allow propaganda to overshadow the truth, we weaken our party, divide our people, and play into the hands of our opponents. That is not the way forward.”
