Dr. Razak Kojo Opoku, a political analyst and member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has strongly refuted claims that the party’s 2024 defeat in several Akan-dominated regions was due to the choice of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, a non-Akan Muslim, as the party’s presidential candidate.

In a detailed write-up sighted by GhanaWeb, Dr. Opoku argued that such claims were emotionally charged and lacked factual basis, citing historical election results that demonstrate similar patterns of NPP’s performance in Akan regions despite presenting Akan candidates in previous elections.

He pointed out that in the 1992 presidential election, when the NPP fielded Prof. Albert Adu Boahen, an Akan candidate from the Ashanti and Eastern Regions, the party won only one region; Ashanti despite the candidate's ethnic background.

However, the NPP secured just 30.29 percent of the national vote during the period.

“Similarly, in 1996, when the NPP presented John Agyekum Kufuor, another Akan candidate from the Ashanti Region, the party won only the Ashanti Region, with a national vote share of 39.67%.”

“In the 2008 election, despite presenting Nana Akufo-Addo, also an Akan from the Eastern Region, the NPP again won only two regions—Ashanti and Eastern—with a national vote share of 49.13% in the first round and 49.77% in the second round,” Dr. Razak Opoku wrote.

He also highlighted that in 2012, with Nana Akufo-Addo once again as the party's candidate, the NPP won only two regions (Ashanti and Eastern), securing a national vote share of 47.74%.

In stark contrast, he pointed out that in the 2024 election, the NPP, for the first time, fielded Dr. Bawumia, a non-Akan Muslim, and managed to secure three regions; Ashanti, Eastern, and North East despite the candidate’s ethnic background.

Dr. Opoku emphasised that attributing the party's defeat in Akan-dominated regions to Dr. Bawumia's non-Akan status was illogical and unsupported by the historical electoral data.

He posed a series of rhetorical questions to critics; “Did all Southerners and Akans vote for Prof. Mills in 2000 and 2004? Did all Southerners and Akans vote for Prof. Albert Adu Boahen in 1992? Did all Southerners and Akans vote for Kufuor in 1996? Did all Southerners and Akans vote for Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008 and 2012?”

These questions, he argued, proved that ethnicity alone cannot explain the electoral outcomes in Akan regions.

Dr. Opoku concluded that the NPP's loss in 2024 should be attributed to several other factors, including what he described as “self-seeking elements” within the Bawumia/NAPO campaign team and suggested that these internal challenges would be addressed in the future, starting in 2025.

“The argument that Dr. Bawumia's ethnic and religious background was the primary cause of NPP's defeat in the 2024 election was a 'false narrative' with no logical foundation,” he concluded.

MA