NPP To Elect First Northern Candidate

Barely a week to the Super Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), political pundits have concluded that the poll is a done deal for Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia considering the grassroots support from the party.

This will make him the first ever candidate of the party from the north since its inception killing the ‘Akan’ tag its opponents have used against it for years.

Bawumia’s campaign team however appears to be leaving nothing to chance as it is working tirelessly to seal the victory at the Super Delegates Conference which is a precursor to the November 4, 2023 congress.

Recently, the Centre for Sustainable African Development Initiatives (C-SADI), UK and The Outcomes International, Ghana in a latest poll, revealed Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is set to win the Special Delegates Conference with a whopping 72%.

The researchers found that out of the ten aspirants to the flagbearer position of the NPP, Vice President Dr Bawumia will not only be part of the five persons the Special Delegates Conference will select but will be in a very comfortable lead, beating his closest contender by 64.9 percentage points.

According to the research, the top five candidates will be: H.E. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia with 72.6% of the votes; Hon. Alan Kyeremanten with 7.7% of the votes; Hon.  Kennedy Agyapong with   .3% of the votes; Hon.  Kwabena Agyapong with 1.8% of the votes; and Hon. Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto with 0.6% of the votes.  11.7% of the voters in the Special Delegates Conference are still undecided as of the time of the research.

Meanwhile, all New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) from Northern Ghana and some wealthy businesspersons have revealed that they are going to finance the party’s Super Delegates Conference in all five regions of the North as support for the candidature of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

They want him to not only win the Super Delegates Conference scheduled for August 26, 2023 but the National Delegates Conference that will be held in November 4, 2023.

According to the MP for Tolon and Deputy Majority Chief Whip Habib Iddrisu the MPs from Northern, Upper East, Upper West, North East and Savanah Regions and the wealthy businesspersons believe in the capacity of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to help the NPP win the 2024 General Elections [break the eight] and are therefore picking up the bills for his sake.

“We the NPP MPs in the Regions of the North believe in Dr Bawumia and his ability to break the 8 for the NPP in 2024…The Vice President has done a lot for the Northern Regions and for that reason, he is spared the burden of bearing the cost of water, transportation, accommodation, food and other miscellaneous expenses as far as the primaries are concerned since we have decided to honour those obligations,” Alhaji Habib Iddrisu explained to journalists in Tamale.

The NPP MPs and the businesspersons want Dr Bawumia to “focus on his campaign and leave expenses in the Regions to” them.

Ashanti Region Support

The latest development  also comes barely a week after the  Ashanti Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bernard Antwi Boasiako fondly called Chairman Wontumi revealed that, as a token of appreciation for the work Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has done for the Ashanti Region in particular and the NPP as a whole, he and many other high-ranking members of the party in the region, have taken over the campaign expenses of Dr Bawumia as he seeks to lead the party into the 2024 General Elections.

Chairman Wontumi said that he, working in concert with others, has formed a group of financiers composed of NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) from the region and other powerful members of the party to fund the campaign of the Vice President as a show of gratitude for the many developmental projects and programmes he has spearheaded to the benefit of the Ashanti Region.

To drum home their commitment, the group of bankrollers of Bawumia led by Chairman Wontumi took over his campaign expenditure when he was in the region to campaign recently. Bills that the campaign team of Dr Bawumia should have settled were all paid for by the financiers.

Candidates

Ten (10) aspirants have been cleared by the vetting committee are; Hon. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, Mr. Kwadwo Poku, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Hon. Boakye Kyerematen Agyarko, Hon. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, Hon. Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Hon. Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie, Hon. Joe Ghartey, and Hon. Francis Addai-Nimoh.