The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has concluded its national delegates conference in Kumasi with a new team of national executives, but the more difficult task begins now.
More than 7,000 delegates gathered at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Saturday to elect leaders who will be expected to rebuild the party and position it for the 2028 general election.
The elections came at a critical moment for the NPP.
The party lost power in the 2024 general election after eight years in government and has since been engaged in a process of restructuring and internal reorganisation.
The significance of the Kumasi congress, therefore, goes beyond the personalities who won the various positions.
The new leadership has been given the responsibility of restoring confidence among the party’s supporters, strengthening its structures and addressing the weaknesses that contributed to its defeat.
That responsibility must not be taken lightly.
The newly elected National Chairman, John Boadu, speaking on behalf of the new executives, acknowledged the task before them when he said “Our task is to build a renewed NPP, one that listens and consults more.”
He added that the new leadership would work closely with regional executives, constituencies, external branches and Members of Parliament. That is precisely the approach the party needs.
The NPP cannot rebuild itself merely by changing its national officers.
It must rebuild its relationship with ordinary party members.
The grassroots must feel listened to, respected and involved in decisions that affect the direction of the party.
The warning signs are already clear. The party’s performance in the Ashanti Region, traditionally its strongest electoral base, declined significantly between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.
Its presidential vote in the region fell by about 429,000, while the National Democratic Congress (NDC) increased its vote there.
That should be a matter of serious reflection for the party.
The new leadership must therefore resist the temptation to spend the next two years on internal positioning and factional battles.
Its focus should be on rebuilding the party at the polling-station, electoral-area, constituency and regional levels. Equally important is unity.
The party’s 2028 presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, urged defeated aspirants to accept the results and work together, assuring them that “there is work for everybody” and that nobody would be left behind. This message must translate into action.
The NPP cannot afford to discard experienced members simply because they lost an internal contest.
Those who contested and lost have supporters, experience and ideas that could be useful to the party’s rebuilding process.
The party must also listen more carefully to the concerns of Ghanaians outside its traditional support base.
Winning back power in 2028 will require more than energising its loyal supporters.
It will require convincing floating voters and those who abandoned the party in 2024 that the NPP has learnt from its mistakes and is prepared to do things differently.
Kumasi has provided the NPP with a new beginning. The challenge now is to ensure that the unity displayed at the end of the contest does not disappear once the delegates return home.
The Ghanaian Times urges the new leadership to make unity, consultation, accountability and grassroots engagement the foundation of its work.
The real verdict on the Kumasi congress will not be determined by the cheers at Baba Yara Sports Stadium, but by whether the new executives can build a stronger, more responsive and more credible NPP before Ghanaians return to the polls in 2028.
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