By Richmond Keelson, Ontario, Canada

Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia is still struggling to locate a legitimate spot within the New Patriotic Party (NPP). This is largely because his rise in the party since 2008, has been shaped by a specific interest group that capitalized on a political moment well-suited to his profile, rather than his association and strength within the NPP tradition. 

In the search for a running mate for Nana Akufo Addo in 2008, Bawumia backers championed him as the economic wizard the NPP had long lacked, even though he was, in many ways, an aberration to the party’s traditional roots. Ultimately, the conservative purists were compelled to concede, viewing him as the right fix for the political exigencies of the time.

Thus, Bawumia’s selection as running mate—and his eventual rise to the vice presidency—were not the result of broad-based party consensus but rather a calculated move by the Akufo-Addo-led Akyem faction. Consequently, every political stride he has taken within the NPP seems less a product of earned trust or grassroots support, and more the outcome of strategic orchestration by powerful party interests.

The unfolding true position of Bwumia in the NPP

The true test of Bawumia’s political mettle within the NPP is unfolding now, following his significant loss in the 2024 elections. Perhaps he is beginning to feel the weight of the hostility in his immediate political environment, along with the quiet abandonment by those who had championed his presidential bid in 2023. 

According to Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy, a founding member of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo—the man who spearheaded Bawumia’s meteoric rise and strategically engineered his flagbearer bid in the last general election—has now seemingly abandoned his protégé’s quest for a second shot at leadership. 

This, perhaps, explains Dr. Bawumia’s carefully choreographed “Thank You Tour,” which holds significant implications for his political future within the NPP. It signals his attempt to shed the “Akufo-Addo’s boy” label and rebrand himself as an independent figure in a broader struggle for recognition and belonging within the party.

The false historical narrative 

That is to build a legitimate support base within the party, particularly, after his supposed legitimate claim to representing the Dombo-Karbo axis was exposed as a political gimmick aimed at securing votes from Northern Ghana. His disappointing performance in the North during the 2024 elections underscores this disconnect.

Compounding his challenges, Bawumia has been unable to leverage his father’s controversial legacy within the NPP tradition—rooted in the UP, PP, and PFP movements. His father was accused of betraying this tradition by joining Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP, where he was appointed a minister in the First Republic. This historical baggage has done little to endear Bawumia to NPP purists.

Thus, for Bawumia and his allies, the “Thank You Tour” represents an opportunity to stake a meaningful claim in the UP-NPP tradition. However, his struggle to assert an independent identity has gone into overdrive, culminating in public attempts to distance himself from the very Akufo-Addo administration in which he served. 

At one gathering—much to the shock of many Ghanaians—Bawumia remarked: “The President announced there would be no haircuts; all Ghanaians were happy. But when reality struck, we imposed haircuts.”

He also feigned surprise at the administration’s failures to honor key campaign promises: “The government was no longer paying NABCO workers, no longer paying afforestation workers, and caterers under the school feeding program were also not being paid.”

And he lamented further: “Also, three days before election day, the price of fuel went up. When I heard it, I thought it was a joke. The drivers were angry at us. So, people went to vote against us in anger. In many of the regions where most of our votes came from, we failed to deliver on development. In the Western Region, for instance, we could not complete the roads or the market square.”

Bawumia’s Biggest Task 

But Bawumia faces a daunting challenge. He is chasing what increasingly appears to be a non-existent treasure. Many within the NPP are beginning to grasp the true purpose behind the party’s ongoing “Thank You Tour”—largely funded, it turns out, by Bawumia himself. The aggressive attempt by his supporters to dominate the tour has laid bare its underlying political motive.

This explains the hostility shown toward any prominent party figure not firmly in Bawumia’s camp—especially Kennedy Agyapong, who had expressed interest in participating. The stabbing of a known Agyapong supporter was the final straw, revealing the darker side of Bawumia’s camp and their intentions for the tour.

Now, even prominent Bawumia-aligned figures like Dr. Kwabena Kokofu and Nana Ayew Afriyie—both of whom backed him during the 2023 NPP presidential primaries—are calling for the tour to be suspended, recognizing that the platform is being hijacked to promote a singular political agenda.

The decisions by Kennedy Agyapong and party chairman Stephen Ntim to withdraw from the tour serve as strong indicators that this initiative is less about party unity and more a personal campaign effort by a man still struggling to define his identity within the party.

Perhaps Bawumia still fails to appreciate the deeply rooted structure of the NPP. As a traditionally conservative party, the NPP is steeped in ethnic identity, affluence, and entrenched political networks—especially among those occupying influential roles. 

His rise to the presidential ticket was one of the most painful and rare aberrations the party had ever undertaken, orchestrated by Akufo-Addo as a smokescreen to counter criticism that the NPP is an Akan-dominated party. It also served to sideline figures like Alan Kyerematen and others aligned with the Asante faction within the party.

Now that Bawumia has squandered the opportunity created by this calculated political gambit, the NPP appears to be reverting to its traditional roots. This likely explains Bawumia’s increasingly desperate efforts to carve out a space that will accept—and support—his ambitions.