More than 2,000 police officers were deployed as 1,022 New Patriotic Party delegates voted to elect a new Ashanti Regional Executive on Saturday, part of a nationwide exercise the party’s leadership described as running smoothly despite a tightly contested chairmanship race.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said he was satisfied with how the process had unfolded. “So far so good, it has been a very peaceful atmosphere,” he said, describing the conduct of the election as orderly.
Thirty-four aspirants contested 11 executive positions in Ashanti, meaning 22 candidates were guaranteed to leave without the post they sought. The chairmanship race, the most closely watched of the contest, pitted Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, known as COKA, against Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, a former Bantama MP and ex-Environmental Protection Agency chief executive, with the winner set to replace jailed former chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known as Chairman Wontumi.
Deputy Minority Leader and Asokwa MP Patricia Appiagyei urged delegates to use their votes wisely, calling for leaders who could help rebuild the party’s fortunes. She appealed for the election of bold, affable and experienced figures capable of steering the NPP’s effort to recapture power in the 2028 general election, and separately called for a regional executive team drawn from across the party rather than dominated by one faction.
With a large share of the field certain to fall short, party voices used the occasion to press for unity once results are declared, urging successful and unsuccessful aspirants alike to set aside the contest and refocus on rebuilding ahead of 2028. The Ashanti vote formed part of the NPP’s simultaneous regional executive elections held across 15 regions on Saturday, with the Western North Region voting a day later.
