Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and flagbearer aspirant, Kwabena Agyepong, has admonished the party against trying to assign blame for their overwhelming defeat at the December 7, 2024 elections.
According to him, the party must focus on the way forward by identifying what cause their unprecedented loss, and taking active steps to bounce back stronger.
Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV’s Face to Face Kwabena Agyepong said the party must avoid being “imprisoned by the past” and instead draw meaningful lessons from the loss.
He indicated that the party’s internal elections processes have been marred by vote buying and manipulation, resulting in dissatisfaction amongst the party faithful.
The politician added that some members of the party believe it is high time they move from the electoral college system to a broader voting base of card-bearing party members for their internal elections.
“I don’t want to go into history because what I have learned is that you can’t reverse what has happened in the past. So, you learn lessons from it. And as a political party, we should learn lessons from the defeat. That is why we put together, this Oquaye committee,” he said.
He added, “It’s important we don’t get imprisoned by the past. Learn quick lessons, and NPP has a lot of platforms, you run through it, and what is clear is that people are dissatisfied with the closed electoral system, which they feel has been monetised, manipulated in the past.
“So we are looking for more inclusive arrangements. There are two schools of thought—either we go the full haul and open it up to all card-bearing members.”
Responding to calls for identifying and blaming those responsible for the defeat, Agyepong firmly rejected the idea.
“I totally disagree with you. People have held poles and assigned percentages to those who are to be blamed for our defeat, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re in opposition. I’m not going to waste precious time and emotions to look at that. We are out of the office.”
He urged party members to shift their focus toward rebuilding and regaining public confidence.
“Any honest party leader knows why. No corporate entity brings out its strategy plan in public. To rebuild and regroup is to earn the respect of the country and win back our lost supporters. It’s the interventions that matter.”
