Outgoing Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North, Andy Appiah Kubi, has strongly criticized the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) constitution, describing it as outdated and flawed in its processes for selecting party leaders.
Speaking on TV3 on Saturday, December 28, the private legal practitioner said, “The NPP’s constitution is so flawed in selecting leaders in the party. A constitutional review is long overdue.”
His comments came in response to a press conference held by NPP National Chairman, Stephen Ntim, who acknowledged the party’s defeat to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and outlined plans for a post-election review.
“There is no doubt that the outcome of the elections is not what we wished for,” Mr. Ntim said. “The party will set up an election review committee in January 2025 to engage stakeholders and analyze the factors leading to our defeat, paving the way for reforms.”
However, Appiah Kubi contended that the party’s leadership selection process, which relies heavily on a monetized system, undermines the emergence of the best candidates.
“Monetization in the NPP will not bring out the best candidates for leadership roles,” he warned. He further emphasized the need to reward competence and loyalty instead of fostering cronyism within the party.
Adding his voice to the debate, Professor Ransford Gyampo a political science lecturer at the University of Ghana attributed the NPP’s loss to issues such as corruption, arrogance, economic mismanagement, and nepotism.
He dismissed the notion that voter apathy was the primary cause of the defeat, saying, “Blaming apathy without addressing the real reasons is mere propaganda.”
Professor Gyampo also criticized the party’s decision to set up a committee to investigate the loss, stating that the reasons for the defeat were already clear. “People didn’t vote because they felt let down. Corruption, arrogance, economic mismanagement, and nepotism cost the NPP the elections,” he added.
