Ashanti Region must look beyond votes and help shape NPP’s future – NAPO

Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, has called on the Ashanti Region to move beyond its traditional role as a major vote bank for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and take a more active role in shaping the party’s next generation of leaders.

According to him, the region’s importance to the NPP goes far beyond the votes it delivers at elections, with Ashanti having historically played a key role in providing the party with organisers, activists, thinkers, parliamentarians and leaders.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, NAPO said the region must now consider what more it can offer the party as it enters a new political chapter under the leadership of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

“Today, as Dr Mahamudu Bawumia leads our party into its next chapter, Ashanti Region must ask not only what it has contributed to the NPP, but what it is prepared to contribute to its future,” Napo stressed.

He also questioned the continued description of Ashanti and Kumasi as the NPP’s “World Bank”, arguing that the relationship between the region and the party is rooted in a much deeper political tradition.

“That is why I sometimes hesitate when Kumasi and Ashanti Region are described simply as the NPP’s World Bank,” he said. “Our relationship with this tradition is older and deeper than votes.”

NAPO said the region had stood by the NPP during difficult periods and contributed significantly to the development of the party over the years.

He therefore urged stakeholders in the region to focus on developing a new generation of organisers and leaders capable of sustaining the NPP’s political tradition.

His call comes as the NPP undertakes internal reorganisation following its National Executive Elections, with the party seeking to rebuild its structures and position itself for the 2028 general elections after losing power in the December 2024 elections.

NAPO, a former Minister for Energy, served as the NPP’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.