In a pivotal moment for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), a 12-member committee tasked with investigating the party’s shocking defeat in the 2024 general elections has officially submitted its findings to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
The submission was made on Wednesday, April 16, at a closed-door ceremony at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.
The committee, chaired by former Speaker of Parliament and seasoned party stalwart Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, presented a comprehensive report detailing factors that may have contributed to the party’s electoral downfall after nearly a decade in power.
The event brought together the top brass of the NPP, including former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, former Vice President and 2024 flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, his running mate, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, and General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong.
The investigative team was commissioned by the party shortly after the December 2024 elections, which saw the NPP losing both the presidency and a significant number of parliamentary seats to the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), marking a dramatic shift in the country’s political landscape.
According to party insiders, the committee’s mandate was to undertake a thorough post-mortem of the party’s campaign strategy, internal dynamics, candidate selection, voter turnout among party faithful, and broader public sentiment leading to the defeat.
Despite the growing curiosity surrounding the committee’s conclusions, Prof. Oquaye declined to offer any comment following the presentation.
“The report has been submitted to the party leadership. It is now up to them to act on its contents,” he told journalists briefly before exiting the venue.
The contents of the report remain under wraps for now, as the party has yet to make the findings public.
However, sources suggest the report touches on critical missteps, including alleged discontent among the grassroots, controversial candidate choices, internal factionalism, and growing public dissatisfaction with the party’s performance in its final term.
In the aftermath of the election, several prominent voices within the party, such as political analyst, Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, have publicly blamed former President Akufo-Addo for the party’s collapse.
“Akufo-Addo must take responsibility for the defeat,” Dr. Amoako Baah said in a previous interview, adding that internal arrogance and exclusionary tactics alienated many loyalists.
Meanwhile, the party’s Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, recently hinted that the leadership may opt not to release the full report to the public.
“This is an internal document, and we must assess what is in the best interest of the party moving forward,” he said.
The NPP, once riding high on two successive electoral victories in 2016 and 2020, now faces a challenging road to rebuild ahead of the 2028 polls.
The presentation of the report is expected to ignite a wave of internal discussions, potential reshuffles, and strategic reforms.
–BY Issah Olegor
