The New Patriotic Party (NPP) must confront an uncomfortable political reality as it prepares for the 2028 general election: its attempt to separate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia from the failures of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration may have contributed to the party’s historic defeat in 2024. If the party fails to learn from that experience, it risks repeating the same mistakes and further weakening its electoral prospects.
The 2024 election was not merely a rejection of an incumbent government. It was also a verdict on the NPP’s record, its campaign strategy and the credibility of its leadership. The party’s defeat should therefore compel a serious examination of how it presented its achievements, acknowledged its failures and positioned its presidential candidate before the electorate.
One of the most damaging aspects of the NPP’s campaign was the apparent attempt to portray Dr Bawumia as a candidate who could perform better than the government in which he had served as Vice-President for eight years. While the promise of a new direction was politically understandable, the manner in which the message was communicated created an obvious contradiction.
How could a candidate convince voters that he was the solution to the country’s economic and governance challenges while appearing to distance himself from the very administration in which he had occupied the second-highest executive office?
That contradiction was difficult to reconcile, particularly for voters who expected him to accept responsibility for the collective record of the government.
The danger of selective responsibility
The NPP’s electoral difficulties were compounded by perceptions that the party was attempting to assign blame for the administration’s failures almost exclusively to Akufo-Addo while presenting Bawumia as the principal face of its achievements.
Such a strategy was inherently problematic.
Although the President bears the ultimate responsibility for the direction of his administration, governance is a collective undertaking. Ministers, vice-presidents, political appointees and party officials all contribute to the decisions, policies and institutional culture that shape a government’s performance.
Bawumia was not an outsider to the Akufo-Addo administration. He served as Vice-President throughout its eight years in office and played a prominent role in communicating its economic policies, particularly its digitalisation agenda.
Consequently, voters were entitled to question why he should receive credit for the administration’s successes while being insulated from responsibility for its shortcomings.
The perception that the NPP was attempting to separate the candidate from the government proved difficult to overcome. Rather than presenting Bawumia as an experienced leader capable of building on the administration’s achievements and correcting its mistakes, the strategy risked making him appear inconsistent.
This is a critical lesson for the party: political credibility cannot be built on selective ownership of a government’s record.
A party cannot convincingly claim that its candidate deserves credit for successful policies while insisting that the same candidate bears little responsibility for policies that failed.
The electorate understands that governments are not collections of unrelated individuals whose records can be separated whenever political circumstances become unfavourable.
Akufo-Addo’s legacy cannot be erased
The NPP must also recognise that its political history cannot be rewritten to suit the ambitions of individual leaders.
The Akufo-Addo administration had achievements that the party could legitimately defend, just as it had failures that demanded honest acknowledgement. The same principle applies to the John Agyekum Kufuor administration and any future NPP government.
The party’s problem arises when it treats its history as a political burden to be selectively discarded rather than a record from which it can learn.
If the NPP believes that Akufo-Addo’s administration made significant contributions to Ghana’s development, it should be prepared to explain those contributions with evidence. If particular policies failed, it should acknowledge the failures and explain what it would do differently.
Attempting to suppress the positive aspects of a former administration because its record has become politically unpopular is just as damaging as refusing to acknowledge its mistakes.
Such an approach can alienate loyal party supporters who believe their government’s achievements are being unfairly dismissed. At the same time, it can reinforce the suspicions of undecided voters who interpret the party’s selective messaging as an admission that it has no convincing defence of its record.
The NPP must understand that defending a legacy does not mean defending every decision made by the government. Equally, acknowledging failures does not require the party to deny every achievement.
What is required is a balanced assessment that respects the intelligence of the electorate.
Bawumia needs a new message, not a convenient scapegoat
As the NPP prepares for 2028, Bawumia must demonstrate that he has learned from the party’s electoral experience.
If he emerges as the party’s presidential candidate, he will need to present a clear and credible policy programme that addresses the concerns of Ghanaians. But that programme must be accompanied by an honest explanation of his role in the previous administration.
He cannot simply argue that he will perform better without explaining what went wrong, what lessons he has learned and why voters should believe that his proposed approach will produce different results.
A convincing campaign would distinguish between policies he considers successful, those he believes require improvement and those he would abandon altogether.
It would also identify the institutional and economic constraints that affected the previous administration without using them as excuses for poor decisions.
Most importantly, Bawumia must establish a clear connection between his experience in government and the changes he intends to introduce.
His experience as Vice-President can be presented as an advantage if he demonstrates that it has equipped him with a practical understanding of government and the capacity to correct its shortcomings. It becomes a liability when he appears to be distancing himself from the administration whenever its record comes under criticism.
The distinction is fundamental.
Ghanaians do not necessarily expect political leaders to have perfect records. They do, however, expect honesty, consistency and evidence that leaders can learn from their mistakes.
Collective responsibility must become the NPP’s guiding principle
The party must now move away from the politics of individual blame and embrace collective responsibility for its record in government.
This principle should not be interpreted as an instruction to shield former presidents or party officials from legitimate criticism. Rather, it should require the party to accept ownership of the decisions made under its administrations while allowing a fair assessment of the contributions and shortcomings of individual leaders.
The Kufuor and Akufo-Addo governments should be evaluated on their respective records, with successes acknowledged and failures examined. Bawumia’s role in the previous administration should form part of that assessment, not be excluded from it.
Such an approach would enable the party to develop a coherent political narrative that connects its history to its future.
It would also prevent the internal divisions that can arise when party factions attempt to protect their preferred leaders by blaming others for collective failures.
The NPP must resist the temptation to turn its former presidents and presidential aspirants into competing political brands whose achievements are celebrated at the expense of one another.
A political party that cannot reconcile its own history will struggle to persuade the electorate that it is prepared to lead the country again.
A fresh policy direction is essential
Collective responsibility alone will not secure victory in 2028. The NPP must also present policies that respond to the changing needs and expectations of Ghanaians.
The party needs a forward-looking programme addressing employment, the cost of living, economic stability, education, healthcare, agriculture, industrial development and public-sector accountability.
That programme must go beyond promises of better management or general assurances that the next administration will perform differently.
Voters will want to know how the proposed policies will be funded, how they will be implemented and what measurable outcomes they can expect.
Bawumia, in particular, must explain how his proposed economic and governance agenda would differ from the policies pursued under the Akufo-Addo administration. Where he intends to continue existing programmes, he should explain why they remain worthwhile. Where he intends to introduce new approaches, he should demonstrate how they would address problems that the previous government failed to resolve.
The party must also recognise that a change of presidential candidate does not automatically amount to a change of direction. A credible renewal requires new ideas, a willingness to admit mistakes and a demonstrable commitment to better governance.
Without these elements, the promise of a fresh start may be dismissed as another electoral slogan.
The 38 per cent warning should not be ignored
The suggestion that the NPP could struggle to obtain even 38 per cent of the vote in 2028 if it repeats the mistakes of 2024 is a political warning rather than a certainty.
Nevertheless, it captures the danger of assuming that the party’s traditional support base will automatically return to the fold.
The 2024 election demonstrated that the NPP could suffer a decisive defeat despite having an established national structure, experienced political leaders and a record of electoral victories.
The party must therefore avoid complacency and resist the assumption that its electoral fortunes can be restored simply by selecting a candidate and criticising the governing National Democratic Congress.
Winning back public confidence will require more than attacking the performance of the current government. The NPP must demonstrate that it has undertaken a serious assessment of why voters rejected it and that it is prepared to act on the lessons.
It must also rebuild relationships with supporters who became disillusioned with its performance and engage undecided voters who may be unwilling to give it another opportunity without substantial evidence of change.
The party’s internal discussions should focus less on protecting individual reputations and more on developing a credible programme for national development.
The choice before the NPP
The NPP now faces a choice between confronting its political history honestly and attempting to escape it through selective narratives.
The first approach offers an opportunity for renewal. The second risks prolonging the credibility problems exposed by the 2024 election.
Akufo-Addo’s legacy cannot be separated entirely from Bawumia’s political record, just as the achievements and failures of the Kufuor administration remain part of the NPP’s broader history. The party must learn to acknowledge these connections without allowing its past to dictate its future.
If Bawumia is to lead the party into the 2028 election, he must be prepared to accept the responsibilities that come with his previous role in government while presenting a clear, practical and convincing alternative for Ghana.
The NPP, for its part, must abandon the politics of selective credit and selective blame. It must acknowledge its achievements without exaggeration, admit its failures without evasion and offer policies that demonstrate genuine lessons have been learned.
For us on CURRENT ISSUES, the central lesson of 2024 is that voters cannot be persuaded by a party that wants the benefits of its past without accepting responsibility for it.
If the NPP hopes to return to power in 2028, it must first make peace with its own record and convince Ghanaians that it has become a more honest, accountable and capable political organisation.
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