NPP’s 2028 Flagbearer Race: Why Bawumia’s Defeat Rules Him Out

The spokesperson for Kennedy Agyapong’s campaign in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2028 general election flagbearer race, Kwasi Kwarteng, has made a compelling case that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP’s 2024 presidential candidate, should not be given another chance to lead the party just because of his dismal electoral showing.

Kwarteng contends that Bawumia fell short of the criterion that second chances in NPP presidential bids are not automatic and should only be granted to candidates who exhibit notable electoral growth.

He denounced what he called the selective implementation of the NPP’s National Executive Committee’s order to halt campaigning until after the by-election in Akwatia. He pointed out that although some candidates followed the order in observance of the national mourning period that followed the helicopter crash on August 6, 2025, others—including Bawumia’s camp—kept on their vigorous campaigning in the Ashanti Region. He maintained that this disparity shows that the party’s internal procedures are not fair.

Kwarteng underlined that the NPP has a history of rewarding candidates who increase the party’s vote share on their first try. He even offered a mathematical analysis to back up his claim, stating that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, John Agyekum Kufuor, and Professor Albert Adu Boahen increased the NPP’s vote share.

When compared to Akufo-Addo’s 2008 debut, Bawumia’s 2024 performance, with 41.61% of the vote, represented a 7.52 percentage point drop. He called this as the “worst performance ever witnessed in the history of the Fourth Republic” for an NPP presidential candidate, noting that Bawumia was the first NPP candidate to poll lower than his immediate predecessor on a first attempt.

“In the NPP, the privilege of a second presidential bid has never been automatic. It is not a reward simply for showing up; it is a recognition earned through strong performance in the previous general election,” Kwarteng wrote on social media.

He maintained that in order to defeat the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which he thinks will seek to strengthen its hold on power following its 2024 triumph, a “strong, credible, and winnable candidate” will be needed in the 2028 election.

Kennedy Agyapong, the former Assin Central MP, was positioned by Kwarteng as the candidate most qualified to fulfill these requirements, pointing to his capacity to bring the party together, his marketability, and his appeal at the grassroots level.

Akufo-Addo Has No Confidence In Bawumia Any More

In a similar incident, Bawumia’s 2024 campaign spokesperson Dennis Miracles Aboagye criticized Kwarteng’s assertions, calling them a “cherry-picked, context-free distortion of facts.” Aboagye defended Bawumia’s 4.65 million votes in 2024, saying that the party’s electability was demonstrated by the fact that they were obtained in the face of significant political and economic difficulties.

He underlined that Bawumia’s intelligence, temperament, and record make him the superior candidate to guide the party to victory, calling Kennedy Agyapong a “loose cannon” whose reliance on “insults and threats” will hurt the NPP’s chances in 2028.