NPP’s ‘rushed’ flagbearer elections like planting in a soil that has not been tilled — Kwaku Azar

Ghanaian legal scholar and political commentator, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has criticised the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) newly announced roadmap for electing its 2028 flagbearer.

The main opposition party has set January 31, 2026, as the date to elect its presidential candidate for the 2028 general elections, where it hopes to return to power.

The date was approved during a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held on Tuesday, June 17.

As part of the roadmap, the party also scheduled polling station executive elections for December 6, 2025. However, it has yet to announce dates for the elections of its constituency, regional, and national executives.

Reacting to the development in a social media post on Wednesday, June 18, Prof Kwaku Azar described the sequence of events as dangerous to both internal party democracy and Ghana’s broader political system.

He questioned why a party that just lost the 2024 elections by over 1.7 million votes would rush to elect a flagbearer without first restructuring its base.

“This is like planting seeds in soil that has not been tilled. A party that refuses to rebuild its foundation before constructing its flagship is not serious about renewal. It is serious about control.

“The presidential primaries should be the culmination of reform, not its prelude. The current timetable turns that logic upside down,” he wrote.