NPP Flagbearer Race: If Kennedy Agyapong's Trap fails to Catch....

Typical of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), their 2026 presidential primaries is fiercely contested with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr. Bryan Acheampong and Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong emerging as frontliners.

The fierceness of this competition is not only expressed in the resources the competing candidates are pumping into their campaign, but also in the jabs they throw at one another on campaign platforms. Just like all other political contests, this particular one is not without excesses that can possibly work against the reorganisation of the party after the primaries, something they need to check.

A critical observation of the campaign of the three frontliners shows that while the other two -- Dr. Bawumia and Dr. Acheampong converse with only NPP delegates, Ken extends his conversation to all Ghanaians. By so doing, he has succeeded in setting a trap for the party should someone else emerge the winner of the primaries.

Ken has stolen the hearts of Ghanaians with his campaign. So, they can't wait for him to be elected as the flagbearer for them to give him the chance to address their root problem -- lack of decent jobs.

Unemployment is not just a milestone on the negs of the millions of Ghanaians who lack decent jobs, but its rippling effects makes it a problem for all. The few who have jobs end up taking care of their relatives who are jobless. So has unemployment thrown many young men and women into armed robbery, Internet fraud and prostitution, just to mention a few. The activities of these social deviants advserly affect the society in general.

This explains why Ken has won the hearts of Ghanaians. In his campaign, he just doesn't promise to create jobs but he goes further to explain how he would do that as the next President. The business mogul, industrialist, philanthropist, and former lawmaker has used his campaign platforms to explain how he would promote industrialisation to create jobs and heal the Ghanaian economy that has been on pain killers since Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown.

Aside from the sense he makes in his campaign, he also has the track record of creating jobs as a private business man. This has left the citizens with no other option than believing him. He asserts that as a business man, he has a practical feel of the problems of the business community, a challenge he will fix as president to pave way for job creation.

Diametrically opposed to Ken is Dr. Bawumia, whom the Ghanaian voters don't trust because of his failure to manage the currency and the economy in general as the head of the Economic Management Team of the erstwhile Akufo-Addo government. Dr. Acheampong's record of expressing interest in buying SSNIT hotels as a member of the government that mismanaged those hotels also misrepresents him to the voters.

In summary, Ken's campaign is a strategic trap that must catch the NPP delegates in the same manner it has caught the citizens. If the delegates fail to give the general voter population what they want -- Ken, that will spell a doom for the party.

The author is an independent political observer, a columnist with Modern Ghana, an esteemed online news portal and a regular contributor to News Commentary, a current affairs programme by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC)

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