Dr Moses Atinga is one of five aspirants for the NPP’s Upper East regional chairmanship, running on a pledge to unite the party ahead of Saturday’s vote.
The New Patriotic Party holds regional executive elections in 15 regions on August 15, with Western North voting a day later, as part of a nationwide reorganisation following the party’s defeat in the 2024 general election. In Upper East, Atinga faces Regional Secretary Elvis Figo Awonekai, Patrick Ayaba, engineer Filson Awankua and Osman Mahamudu Konkonana for the chairmanship. It is Atinga’s second run at the post: he lost narrowly to incumbent Anthony Namoo in the 2022 race, taking 99 votes to Namoo’s 114.
A medical doctor at Tamale Teaching Hospital, Atinga points to decades inside the party’s structures as his case for the job. He served eight years as Assembly Member for the Zorko-Gambrongo Electoral Area in Bongo District, eight years as Bongo Constituency Treasurer, four years as Constituency Secretary, and four years as the region’s First Vice Chairman, according to a declaration statement he posted announcing his candidacy.
Atinga has built his campaign around what he calls a “Tripod Strategy”: investing in training for party officers from polling-station level up to regional leadership, pushing for more coordinated and proactive public communication, and running a constituency-by-constituency review of past election performance to sharpen voter engagement. He has pointed to the region’s parliamentary seat count as evidence the party needs a different approach, saying in past remarks that going “from 3 seats to one seat” was “not a good story to tell.”
Unity has been a recurring theme of his bid. He has said that if elected he would reach out to supporters of rival candidates from past contests, arguing the party cannot rebuild if any faction is left out. Awonekai, his main rival for the post, has made a similar pitch, pledging in his own declaration to heal internal divisions and expand support for the party’s youth and communications structures.
Delegates from the region’s constituency executives, sitting MPs and party structures will decide the race on Saturday.
