Kufuor warns NPP against tribal and religious politics ahead of 2028 elections
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has warned New Patriotic Party (NPP) members asking them to desist from using tribal and religious rhetoric in internal campaigns.
He cautioned that such conduct could reinforce negative stereotypes and undermine the party’s national appeal.
Speaking at the launch of the party’s new ideological and policy think tank, the Patriotic Institute, in Accra on Wednesday, June 25, former President Kufuor expressed deep concern over what he described as creeping bigotry within the party as it prepares to elect a flagbearer for the 2028 general election.
"This is a party that has been branded tribal; we cannot perpetuate it," the former president declared. He warned that divisive utterances by some party members lend weight to longstanding accusations that the NPP is an ethnically driven political organisation.
“We are democratic and we uphold common humanity,” Mr Kufuor stated to applause from party members. “Democracy doesn’t go in for tribe, religion or gender. It is the individual. One man, one vote. And if we want power, we want to present a person who will be convincing to the generality of the electorate.”
He stressed that the NPP must choose a leader not on the basis of ethnic or religious affiliation, but one who is capable of addressing the needs of all Ghanaians. “Can this man we are presenting help solve problems for the community at large so the benefit spreads across the board for all?” he asked.
The former president also urged the party faithful to engage in honest self-reflection about the current direction of internal political discourse. “We must look at issues this way if we tell the truth to ourselves,” he said.
Mr Kufuor noted that accusations of tribalism have long haunted the NPP, and warned that the party’s own members could unwittingly be reinforcing such perceptions through their language and actions. “We may see that the way we have been brushed by our opponents from way back—‘oh, you're a tribal party’—these days we are even including religion. You do that, and it comes from our mouths, then I tell you we are perpetuating,” he said.
He called for an urgent return to the party’s core democratic values and warned that failing to do so could further erode public trust and relevance. “We must get out of the rat hole,” he concluded.
Mr Kufuor’s remarks come at a time when internal jostling for the NPP’s 2028 presidential ticket is already stirring tensions within the party, with some aspirants and their supporters accused of resorting to sectarian tactics to win support.
The launch of the Patriotic Institute is part of the party’s broader efforts to reassert its ideological foundations and chart a renewed course for policy engagement and leadership development ahead of the next national elections.
