The successful conduct of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) regional executive elections marks more than an internal housekeeping exercise.
For a party now in opposition, it is the first structural test of its stated ambition to recapture power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2028.
As the 2028 flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, put it: “The goal for all of us is to win the 2028 elections.
This is just a stepping stone.”
The party has now completed polling station, electoral area, constituency and regional elections.
The organisation is back in place. The harder question is whether the people now in charge can convert structure into seats.
The Map: Where NPP bled most
The post-2024 data shows a party that lost ground far beyond its traditional swing zones.
Greater Accra: The collapse was steepest in this region.
From 21 parliamentary seats in 2016 to just five in 2024.
It is no coincidence the region got a new chairman — former Health Minister, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye. His mandate is explicit: return to 21 seats.
Ashanti: The “heartbeat” held, but weakened. The NPP lost eight of its 47 seats in its stronghold.
More concerning for strategists, the NDC’s vote share climbed from a ceiling of 28 per cent to 35 per cent. The region still delivered the party’s largest vote bank, but the margin is thinning.
Target belt: A senior party official told the Daily Graphic that the focus for 2028 would be the Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Western regions, and the five regions of the north — essentially all regions where 2024 performance was “dismal.”
In contrast, Volta, Upper West, Bono, Bono East, Eastern, Northern, Savannah and North East retained all incumbents.
That suggests stability in party structures there, but stability alone does not win back lost ground.
New leadership: Experience vs task
The regions that changed hands got a mix of technocrats and grassroots operators.
Dr Okoe Boye pitched “servant leadership” and a “24-hour campaign in the Greater Accra Region.”
He is open about the difficulty, but is anchoring his message in unity and grassroots mobilisation.
Citing John Mahama’s 2024 comeback, he argues that electoral fortunes are not permanent.
In the Ashanti Region, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, a five-term constituency chairman and former regional financial secretary, knows the party machinery intimately.
His immediate task is two-fold: reclaim the eight lost seats and arrest the NDC’s vote-share growth in the region.
His message to delegates was blunt: “If the party fails in the region in 2028, the NPP would be in trouble.”
There were other new entrants: Ignatius Kwasi Afrifa in Western; Elvis Figo Awonekai in Upper East; Robert Sarfo-Mensah in Ahafo; Joseph Esibu in Central; Dr Frank Yirenkyi in Oti and Pious Vincent Abakah for Western North.
What unites them is the brief: rebuild trust with members, re-engage floating voters, and deliver parliamentary seats.
Challenges ahead
Reorganisation to mobilisation: Having executives in place is necessary but not sufficient.
The NPP’s 2024 loss was not just organisational.
It was about voter perception on the economy, jobs and cost of living.
The new teams must translate “grassroots mobilisation” into tangible constituency-level service delivery and messaging that resonate beyond the party base.
The Ashanti paradox: The Ashanti Region remains the NPP’s vote engine.
But with NDC now polling 35 per cent, the region is no longer a guaranteed bank.
The party cannot afford another eight-seat loss. Mr Appiah’s call for members to “put aside personal differences” speaks to an internal cohesion problem that, if unresolved, could cost seats.
Greater Accra bellwether: Losing 16 seats in eight years in Accra points to an urban voter problem.
Dr Okoe Boye’s target of 21 seats is ambitious and signals that the party knows it cannot win nationally without recapturing the capital.
That will require more than rallies — it will require credible candidates, youth-focused policies, and discipline.
Conclusion: Stepping stone or stumbling block?
The regional elections have given the NPP what it needed: a full executive structure and a clear narrative of renewal.
Dr Bawumia is right that this is “just a stepping stone.”
But stepping stones only matter if you are to cross the river.
The new executives inherit constituencies where trust has eroded, and turnout has dropped.
Their successes will be measured not by press statements, but by two numbers in 2028: parliamentary seats won, and vote share recovered in Ashanti and Greater Accra.
As Dr Okoe Boye and Mr Appiah themselves acknowledge, the work starts now.
Unity, discipline and 24-hour grassroots work are the slogans.
Delivery will be the verdict.
The NPP has reorganised. Whether it has revitalised will be decided at the polls.
