Eugene Boakye Antwi, the former Member of Parliament for Subin, has strongly dismissed claims that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) loss in the 2024 general elections was due to spiritual factors.
In a recent interview on UTV, Antwi criticized such assertions, particularly those made by NPP General Secretary Justine Kodua, who had linked the party’s defeat to spiritual forces. Antwi argued that attributing the loss to non-material causes ignored the concrete political and economic challenges that contributed to the party’s poor performance.
“It is very unfortunate and regrettable for someone to suggest that defeat is spiritual,” Antwi said. “We have something called science and data; if that is what we use for politics, then where is the spirituality?” He emphasized that electoral outcomes are not determined in the election year alone, but rather well in advance, pointing to the political missteps that led to the party’s struggles.
Antwi explained that political defeats are often foreshadowed long before election day. “You don’t lose elections in the election year, you lose elections 18 months before the election year,” he remarked. He cited issues such as the controversial domestic debt exchange programme, which hurt over 800,000 depositors, and the banking sector cleanup, which resulted in widespread job losses. These economic challenges, Antwi argued, contributed significantly to the electorate’s dissatisfaction with the NPP.
In addition to these issues, Antwi noted public protests and the booing of presidential convoys, signs of discontent among the electorate that could not be attributed to spiritual forces. “People also lost their jobs through the banking cleanup exercise. A lot of things happened that clearly were not spiritual,” he stated, making it clear that the party’s electoral setback was rooted in real-world economic mismanagement rather than mystical explanations.
As the NPP reflects on the aftermath of the 2024 election results, Antwi’s comments underscore the need for the party to confront the practical political and economic realities that led to their defeat. While some party officials continue to look for spiritual explanations, Antwi and others are urging the party to address the root causes of their challenges.
