The New Patriotic Party (NPP) last Saturday held its national conference to elect the national executive of the party.
The decision to converge on Kumasi, the party’s traditional stronghold, was itself significant.
We commend the party’s elections committee, chaired by Frederick Opare-Ansah, for ensuring that the election went on without a hitch.
The personnel of the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies on the ground also contributed to an incident-free election.
In a country where internal party contests often descend into chaos, the peaceful conduct at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium is a credit to the NPP and to Ghana’s democracy.
Now, for the newly elected national executive, the real work begins now.
The confetti and celebration will fade quickly.
The nine officers elected — National Chairperson, General Secretary, three Vice-Chairpersons, National Treasurer, National Organiser, National Women’s Organiser and National Youth Organiser — inherit a party that is wounded, divided, broke, and out of power for the first time in eight years. Their job is not to be big men and women.
It is to rebuild a political machine for 2028.
The challenges are formidable.
The NPP has gone into opposition with deep cracks.
The 2024 defeat exposed and widened factional lines — between supporters of different flagbearer aspirants, between the old guard and the youth, and between those who served in government and those who felt excluded.
The new chairman, John Boadu, must be a healer-in-chief.
He must bring back all the aggrieved, including those who left or were pushed out.
Opposition is hard. Opposition, while divided, is an impossible journey.
The new executive must lead the reform process honestly.
They must also audit what went wrong in 2024.
Why did a party that had built a reputation for economic management lose so badly, including in Ashanti and Eastern regions?
What did the polling station executive say?
Where did the party’s message fail?
A frank, data-driven post-mortem, not propaganda, is needed.
An opposition party is a resource-starved party.
While in power, the NPP could rely on government patronage to sustain its structures.
In opposition, it must raise its own money to run a national secretariat, pay staff, organise meetings and support by-elections.
The new National Treasurer, Alfred Thompson, and General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, face a huge task: to create a sustainable funding model that does not rely on vote-buying or capture by wealthy financiers.
They must also re-energise the party’s wings.
The Women’s Organiser and Youth Organiser must go beyond slogans and rebuild college networks, volunteer groups and community presence.
The polling station, electoral area and constituency executives are demoralised.
The new national officers must reconnect with them, not just during elections but more regularly.
The NPP has always prided itself on being the most organised party.
That organisation collapsed in the last cycle.
It must be rebuilt from the bottom up.
How does the NPP oppose? Since January, the party has struggled to find a coherent opposition voice. Some of its communicators have resorted to mere denial or personal attacks.
That will not win back Ghanaians.
Ghanaians want a very constructive opposition.
The opposition must offer constructive, evidence-based critique and alternative policy.
The new executive must craft a message that acknowledges the mistakes of the NPP’s own eight years in office; a message that apologises where needed, and a message that presents a renewed vision for more jobs, cost of living, and anti-corruption.
Ghanaians are not ready to hear that everything was perfect under the NPP.
They want humility and a new path.
The peaceful election is a good start.
But successful internal elections do not win general elections.
Organisation, unity, money, message and leadership do.
The new executive must remember they were not elected to enjoy the trappings of office.
They were elected to do the hard, unglamorous work of opposition: to listen, to unite, to reform, to raise funds honestly, and to prepare the party to present itself again to Ghanaians in 2028.
Ghanaians need a strong opposition to keep the government accountable.
The NPP needs to be that strong opposition, not for its own sake, but for the health of our democracy.
The confetti has settled in Kumasi.
The real campaign has begun.
