Former NPP Presidential Aspirant Boakye Agyarko Slams Party's Early Primaries Decision

• Boakye Agyarko, a former NPP presidential aspirant, has criticised the party's NEC decision to hold early primaries
• He described the decision as 'nonsense' and argued it went against the party's traditional reorganisation structure
• Agyarko stressed that electing competent grassroots executives was more crucial for the NPP's effective mobilisation

Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirant Boakye Agyarko has vehemently criticised the National Executive Committee (NEC) decision to hold presidential primaries before national executive elections.

Describing the decision as 'nonsense' and 'driven by greed', Agyarko argued that the party's priorities were misplaced.

He also questioned why NEC decided to go against the time-tested tradition of the party in electing its leaders across the board.

Speaking to Sompa FM, he said the NPP should start its reorganisation from the grassroots level, electing its polling station, constituency, regional, and national executives before conducting presidential primaries.

He likened the situation to building a house, where one starts from the foundation and works up to the roof, and added that the NEC had turned things upside down.

"Why would anyone construct the roof before building the foundation? It's either some people don't understand the game, or they are being selfish and greedy. Why would you elect a flagbearer before electing your grassroots executives? For me, this is total nonsense," he said.

Agyarko said that if one understood the dynamics of campaigning, electing a flagbearer so early did not make sense.

"There are 88,917 human settlements in Ghana. If you elect your flagbearer today and expect him to travel to engage Ghanaians in all of these human settlements, he would need 10 years. However, if you have 210,000 executives from polling stations, like we have, they can cover the entire 88,917 human settlements within two weeks. It's the party that we are selling first and foremost, before the presidential candidate," he said.

The video of Agyarko slamming the timing of the NPP's primaries is below:

Agyarko advocates for polling station election

Agyarko also said that electing competent lower-level executives would significantly bolster the party's grassroots mobilisation efforts, ultimately supporting the work of presidential aspirants.

"No one individual can single-handedly win an election. This is why we start our reorganisation effort from the polling stations, so that they can begin working from the grassroots level. They are closer to the voters; they know the people," he added.

Agyarko made these comments in reaction to the decision by the NPP's NEC to hold presidential primaries in January 2026, before electing its polling station, constituency, regional, and national executives.

NPP Deputy General Secretary explains NEC's decision

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported earlier that, Haruna Mohammed, the Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, had explained that the decision to hold early presidential primaries aims to give the winner ample time for campaigning and stakeholder engagement.

In an interview with Channel One TV, he stated that this would also allow the selected candidate to build momentum with the international community. This move, he said, formed part of strategic party efforts to ensure the candidate's success in the 2028 elections.

Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh