By: Richmond Keelson, Ontario, Canada

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), in a statement signed by Acting Chairman Smith Buttey and issued on Saturday, August 16, 2025, after an emergency meeting of the party’s National Council (NC), described its decision to grant amnesty to suspended and estranged members as a “step towards reconciliation and party unity.” 

According to the NC, “This measure reflects the party’s unwavering commitment to fostering internal cohesion, strengthening solidarity, and preparing collectively for the political task ahead.” 

But some observers who spoke to this writer questioned whether the move reflects a genuine desire to build cohesion—or merely serves as a smokescreen to paper over the deep cracks already widening amid the fierce contest between the two main protagonists, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong, in the party’s upcoming presidential primary. 

The decision in the opinion of these people, also raises suspicions of a grand scheme to deflect growing criticism of the party’s controversial arrangement to hold its presidential primary ahead of other internal elections. Critics argue this sequencing was deliberately designed to keep the current leadership in place to teleguide Dr. Bawumia’s presidential bid. 

Indeed, it was the same party hierarchy—backed by what a party insider described as executive caveat and then-President Akufo Addo—that marshaled pressure and inducements on delegates to line up behind a Bawumia candidacy in the run-up to the 2024 national presidential election. 

Against this backdrop, skepticism over the so-called amnesty is hardly surprising. Many within the party therefore see it as a cosmetic peace gesture aimed at calming nerves and managing anger among grassroots members—some of whom refused to vote in the 2024 elections out of frustration and anger with the leadership, which is still in place going into the party’s presidential primary on January 31st, 2026. 

Otherwise, how genuine is an amnesty that comes with caveats—requiring members who forfeited their membership to formally reapply before reinstatement, and, even then, barring them from contesting any internal election for two years? 

Subtle Block of the Return of Alan, Nyaho, Others 

Some analysts, however, argue that the conditions imposed on members who forfeited their membership are deliberately targeted at Alan Kyerematen and his Movement for Change (MFC), which broke away from the NPP ahead of the 2024 national elections, as well as the “gang of three” — Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, Dr. Amoako Baah, and Prof. Frimpong-Boateng.

“It’s very easy to read through some of these tricks. The party leaders most of who are still Bawumia supporters do not want the Alan rebels back to disturb their plan of forcing through with the Bawumia candidacy again for 2028”, a political science lecturer observed. 

 “How do you promote sincere unity and cohesion when members who forfeited their membership are required to reapply formally before being accepted back into the fold?” the lecturer questioned. 

He further argued that such restrictions risk “repeating the very frustrations and grievances that drove many of these members away in the first place,” and further asked whether the move was not a subtle attempt to frustrate any genuine return by MFC stalwarts such as Alan Kyerematen, Nana Ohene Ntow, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, Richard Nyamah, Hopeson Adorye and Solomon Owusu.  

In the case of Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, Dr. Amoako Baah, and Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, many within the party argue that the current NPP leadership is deeply unsettled by the prospect of their return, fearing that these stalwarts would openly challenge and expose the leadership’s maneuvers. 

These men have never shied away from speaking their minds. As founding members and senior figures who rose through the ranks to occupy influential positions, they remain towering voices within the NPP—figures whose candor and credibility the current leadership would rather keep at bay. 

They also fall within the bracket of those required to reapply for NPP membership and are equally barred from contesting any party position until the two-year ultimatum has elapsed. 

Paul Afoko’s Concern and Kennedy Agyapong’s Call 

Former NPP Chairman Paul Afoko, who was ousted from the party through a similar Akufo-Addo–led orchestration prior to the 2016 elections, has likewise questioned the sincerity of the amnesty—arguing that it makes little sense for the party to extend an olive branch only to impose conditions. 

 “The Olive branch extended by the NPP is a good thing” but insisted “it’s wrong for the party to impose conditions on the amnesty. There should be no rules, conditions tied to the return of former members,” he told a section of the Ghanaian media.  

According to chairman Afoko “If you want to bring people back together for a common goal, then you cannot at the same time put hurdles in their way. This is not reconciliation”, Afoko argued.    

Previously, calls by Kennedy Agyapong to reintegrate these leading members were met with stoic resistance, particularly from sections of the NPP hierarchy. The latest conditional amnesty, therefore, is widely seen as a crafty way of maintaining that earlier rejection—without offending those pushing for unconditional reconciliation. 

“No one is naïve in such a political juggernaut. The party’s National Council knows very well that such conditional terms will not appeal to Alan, Nyaho and their groups; but they needed to put forward a proposal that would make it appear as though Alan and his allies rejected the olive branch,” a highly placed source suggested. 

Except for Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, Dr. Amoako Baah, and Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, Alan and his group broke away from the NPP in the aftermath of the party’s novelty presidential primary—an exercise designed to reduce the number of contesting candidates to five. 

That process, riddled with what many described as deliberately staged electoral irregularities or coup, ultimately ensured that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia emerged as the establishment’s preferred candidate for the November 7, 2024, presidential election. 

These restrictions have left the NPP on edge, as they risk reigniting the very frustrations and grievances that originally drove many members away. Concerned party faithful are increasingly questioning whether the so-called amnesty is nothing more than a subtle attempt to frustrate genuine reconciliation and block the return of aggrieved figures in the ongoing political melodrama. 

Yet, indications suggest that Alan Kyerematen and his Movement for Change are unwilling to bow to what they describe as a cheap political gauntlet. A staunch Alan loyalist, Hopeson Adorye, has firmly declared that he and his leader will never return to the NPP fold—a stance echoed and reinforced by Solomon Owusu, spokesperson for the MFC.