–BY Daniel Bampoe
The 2024 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has addressed critics who blame his religion for the party’s electoral defeat, stating emphatically that internal voter apathy, not his faith, was the real cause of the NPP’s loss.
Speaking during a Thank You Tour launch at the NPP National Headquarters in Accra, Dr. Bawumia took time to respond to various post-election narratives, particularly those suggesting that his Muslim identity cost the party votes.
“When we finished the election, there were so many people who were giving different reasons for why we lost,” he stated.
“But people were speaking without data. And you know, you can only speak forcefully with data.”
Dr. Bawumia cited voter turnout as the critical reason for the party’s defeat.
“Notwithstanding our hard work, we still suffered a heavy defeat. And when you look at what happened, you see that it was internal. Many of our supporters did not come out to vote. This is fundamentally why we lost,” he said.
“If you look at 2020 vis-a-vis 2024, 2.1 million of our supporters didn’t come out to vote. 2.1 million. And you look at John Mahama’s votes, his votes went up by maybe 115,000. So he increased by 115,000 and we went down by 2.1 million.”
He emphasized that the NPP’s path to recovery lies within its structures and members: “The key to victory going forward is within the NPP. It is within ourselves. Because we decided not to vote. So if we decide to vote, we will win.”
Addressing the controversy over his religion, Bawumia pushed back strongly:
“One of the reasons people offered was that they said they didn’t vote for us because our presidential candidate was Muslim. When I heard that, I said, this doesn’t make sense. This is not the Ghana that I know.”
He reminded critics that the party democratically elected him over nine Christian candidates:
“We went for primaries. We had ten contestants. I was one Muslim and nine Christians. But the NPP voted for the Muslim presidential candidate. So that could not be the case.”
To support his claim, Dr Bawumia said he conducted a thorough data analysis. “In many constituencies across the country, the NPP presidential candidate performed better than the Christian parliamentary candidate,” he explained.
“If they were voting because of religion, I shouldn’t be performing better than the Christian parliamentary candidate.”
He referenced Reverend John Ntim Fordjour a Christian, the Member of Parliament for Assin South, also a parliamentary candidate, to make his point clearer:
“Even my good friend, Ntim Fordjour … I did better than him in his constituency. So he did so well and mobilized the votes for me, and I thank him very much.”
Dr. Bawumia noted that several independent surveys had discredited religion or tribe as causes of the party’s defeat.
“You had our MPs, you had Global InfoAnalytics, different institutions… They all concluded that it wasn’t an issue of religion. It is not an issue of tribe.”
He warned against divisive narratives: “We should not allow people to come in to play propaganda with religion and tribe. We are one nation. Whether we are Muslims or Christians, we will all work together for the good of this country.”
Oquaye Report
Dr. Bawumia also praised the recent findings of the party’s Elections Review Committee, chaired by Professor Mike Oquaye Committee.
“I must say that I am very happy with the Oquaye Committee report. It has put to bed a lot of the propaganda that was going around about exactly why we lost the election.”
Among the key reforms proposed in the report is a review of the NPP’s delegate system.
“One of the first things that we are going to do is to change the current delegate system and allow more people to vote. That will give more rights to more people to come in and be part of the electoral college,” Bawumia revealed.
As the party moves to reform itself ahead of the next electoral cycle, Dr. Bawumia called for unity, self-reflection, and discipline. “The key is ourselves,” he reiterated. “If we decide to vote, we will win.”
