Former Vice President and 2024 NPP flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has identified internal party conflicts as a decisive factor in the party’s electoral loss, revealing how factional disputes became weaponized by political opponents.
Addressing supporters in Takoradi during the launch of his nationwide “Thank You Tour,” Bawumia delivered a candid postmortem of the campaign’s vulnerabilities.
“The opposition didn’t need to create attack lines – we handed them the ammunition,” Bawumia stated, referencing how the NDC strategically repurposed critical comments from NPP members in campaign advertisements. His analysis highlights an often-overlooked dimension of Ghana’s political warfare, where internal dissent gets amplified through opposition media strategies.
This admission follows months of introspection within NPP ranks after an election that saw the party lose both the presidency and parliamentary majority. Bawumia’s remarks confirm what political observers had noted during the campaign – that public spats between party heavyweights and discontent among grassroots created openings the NDC exploited with surgical precision.
The former Vice President’s tour, ostensibly designed to express gratitude to supporters, has evolved into a crucial platform for party rebuilding. His emphasis on unity suggests recognition that the NPP’s path back to power requires mending fractured relationships between government appointees, party executives, and grassroots structures.
Political scientists note this phenomenon isn’t unique to Ghana – internal divisions have sunk campaigns across Africa’s competitive democracies. However, Bawumia’s decision to publicly address these wounds marks a departure from the tradition of sweeping electoral postmortems under the carpet. As the NPP prepares for future contests, its ability to transform this introspection into genuine reconciliation may determine whether the party can reclaim its position as Ghana’s dominant political force. The Thank You Tour’s subsequent stops will likely reveal whether the rank-and-file share Bawumia’s diagnosis of the party’s ailments.
