Policy analyst Franklin Cudjoe has delivered a scathing assessment of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s post-election reflections, accusing the former Vice President of willful blindness during the campaign that led to the NPP’s crushing 2024 defeat.
The IMANI Africa president’s blistering critique follows Bawumia’s recent admissions about governance failures during the party’s “Thank You Tour” in the Western Region.
“Finally the scales of self-denial have fallen off!” Cudjoe wrote in a sharply worded statement. “You brought this upon yourself.” His analysis suggests the NPP’s electoral humiliation – losing both the presidency and parliamentary majority – could have been mitigated had Bawumia acknowledged the government’s shortcomings during the campaign rather than in its aftermath.
The policy thinker referenced his repeated warnings to Bawumia during the campaign, including through the Asantehene’s counsel, that the government’s refusal to course-correct on unpopular policies like the e-levy and Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) was politically suicidal. Cudjoe particularly criticized what he called the “vaunted Mike Oquaye report” – the party’s internal post-mortem – as a diversion from obvious governance failures that required immediate acknowledgment.
Bawumia’s tour confessions have opened floodgates of criticism from erstwhile allies. His admission that the government “wasn’t listening” – citing the refusal to reshuffle underperforming ministers, policy missteps, and perceived arrogance – has been met with frustration rather than appreciation for belated honesty. This backlash underscores growing impatience with Ghana’s political class tendency toward post-defeat remorse rather than in-office accountability.
The exchange reveals deeper tensions about leadership expectations in Ghana’s democracy. While opposition figures typically benefit from criticizing incumbents, Cudjoe’s intervention highlights the particular responsibility of governing party flagbearers to serve as checks on their own administrations. As the NPP begins its rebuilding process, this episode may force a reckoning about whether party loyalty should supersede public accountability in future campaigns. For a party that once branded itself as Africa’s most digitally sophisticated political machine, the 2024 defeat appears rooted in analog-era problems of tone-deaf governance and internal dissent.
