NPP selects leaders based on competence, not tribal lines — Bawumia

Former Vice President and flagbearer aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has stressed that the opposition party’s tradition does not entertain tribal politics.

He said since the establishment of its roots from the United Party (UP), the NPP has always selected leaders based on competence rather than ethnicity.

Speaking during a campaign stop at Lapaz as part of his three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Bawumia cited historical examples to back his claim.

“NPP don’t vote on tribal lines. It’s not part of our tradition. Casting our mind back to when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah came and passed the Avoidance of Discrimination Act, our leaders then formed the United Party because we didn’t need parties based on different regions,” he said.

He recalled that before the formation of the UP, the Northern Peoples Party (NPP) led by S.D. Dombo was the largest with 13 seats, while Dr. K.A. Busia’s Ghana Congress Party had only one seat.

“So, normally, Dombo would have been the leader of the UP. But the party sat down and decided Busia was the one who could help the UP win power from Nkrumah, so they gave him the leadership role,” Dr. Bawumia explained.

The opposition NPP is expected to elect its flagbearer for the 2028 general elections on January 31, 2026, as part of its strategy to rebuild and recapture power from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).