Bawumia rejects blame for NPP’s regional losses

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has dismissed claims that his leadership caused the NPP’s poor parliamentary showing in seven regions during the 2024 elections, urging delegates to retain him.

Addressing party delegates ahead of the New Patriotic Party’s January 2026 presidential primaries, Dr. Bawumia pushed back against assertions by his opponents that the party’s failure to win seats in seven regions was unprecedented and evidence of weak leadership at the top of the ballot.

“They claim that when you examine the NPP’s 2024 performance, out of the sixteen regions we could not win a seat in seven,” he said. “They claim that this hasn’t happened before, so Dr. Bawumia is to blame. When I heard this, I disputed it. It’s not true.”

Dr. Bawumia argued that similar outcomes had occurred under previous NPP presidential candidates who later went on to win national elections.

He cited the 1996 elections, when former President John Agyekum Kufuor failed to secure parliamentary seats in eight regions, and the 2012 elections, when former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo did not win seats in six regions.

“In 1996, former President John Agyekum Kufuor did not win parliamentary seats in eight regions, while former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo failed to secure parliamentary seats in six regions in the 2012 elections,” he stated.

He questioned why those outcomes did not disqualify the two leaders from being retained by the party.

“When he retained President Kufuor as our flag bearer, did he not win the next election?” Dr. Bawumia asked. “And did Nana Akufo-Addo also not go on to win power for us when he was retained?”

Drawing a parallel with his own situation, Dr. Bawumia appealed directly to delegates to give him another mandate. “So Dr. Bawumia if you retain me as your flag bearer would I not win power for us all?” he asked.

His remarks come amid internal debate within the NPP over the party’s 2024 electoral defeat to President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress.

One of his rivals in the flagbearership race, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, has argued that the NPP’s inability to win parliamentary seats in seven regions pointed to a weak presidential candidate.

Dr. Bawumia, who led the party into the 2024 polls and suffered a heavy defeat, insisted that electoral setbacks at one stage do not determine future success, urging party members to focus on historical lessons as they prepare for the 2026 primaries