By Daniel Bampoe
At a solemn thanksgiving service held on February 15, 2026, at the UPSA Auditorium, newly elected presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, used the occasion not as a celebration of personal victory, but as a platform for reflection, reconciliation, party reform, and national healing.
The event, attended by senior clergy, national party executives, the Council of Elders, Members of Parliament, former ministers, regional and constituency executives, polling station officers, and grassroots organizers, marked the official spiritual closure of the party’s internal election cycle following the NPP’s peaceful flagbearer contest.
Dr. Bawumia traced the moment to the party’s broader rebuilding history, describing the internal elections as part of a long-term reform process aimed at restoring discipline, credibility, and institutional strength within the party.
He acknowledged that internal contests often leave emotional and political scars, warning that unaddressed divisions could weaken the party’s future.
Drawing from biblical teachings, he urged party members to reject bitterness, revenge, and factional hostility, and instead choose forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity.
He emphasized that healing requires honesty, accountability, and deliberate effort, rather than silence or denial.
Positioning the Thanksgiving service as a recommitment to a “higher national cause,” Bawumia stated that the party’s mission goes beyond winning internal contests to building a stronger Ghana.
He stressed that victory in the 2028 general elections would not be automatic, but must be earned through discipline, grassroots engagement, and sustained party reorganization.
According to him, the NPP will soon embark on a nationwide “thank you tour” to appreciate party members for their conduct during the primary, while simultaneously restructuring its policy and organizational machinery to develop, refine, and market alternative policy proposals to the Ghanaian electorate ahead of 2028.
The former Vice President also used the platform to send a broader national message, calling on the government of the day to avoid political intimidation, vengeance, and score-settling.
He appealed for a lowering of political tensions, urging leaders to govern in a manner that reassures all citizens, regardless of political affiliation.
He stressed that democracy must not be reduced to retaliation and that national unity must supersede partisan rivalry, declaring that Ghana is “bigger than any political party.”
Historically, Dr Bawumia’s rise within the NPP has been built on his image as a technocrat and reformist figure, first gaining national prominence as an economic policy voice before serving as Vice President and later emerging as a central figure in the party’s reform agenda.
His election as flagbearer represents a generational transition within the party’s leadership structure and signals a strategic repositioning of the NPP as it seeks to rebuild after electoral setbacks and prepare for a competitive 2028 contest, likely against the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In closing, Dr. Bawumia pledged his full commitment to party rebuilding and national service, calling on youth organizers, women’s groups, elders, volunteers, and grassroots members to recommit to the values of service, competence, institutional respect, and belief in the Ghanaian people.
He framed the post-election period as the beginning of a long journey, not a destination, emphasizing that the real work lies in rebuilding trust—within the party and with the Ghanaian public—through humility, sacrifice, and sustained engagement.
The Thanksgiving service, therefore, marked not just the end of an internal election cycle, but the symbolic launch of the NPP’s 2028 rebuilding project, with Bawumia positioning unity, reform, and national healing as the foundation for the party’s next political chapter.
