Kennedy Agyapong’s Ping-Pong. Will NPP Play?

Honorable Kennedy Agyapong, one of the presidential aspirants for the 2026 NPP presidential primaries, fired an unprovoked attack on the NPP. Honorable Agyapong attacked his own political party MPs for questioning the current NDC government’s failure to operationalize the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region after 16 months in office. Honorable Agyapong further stated that the NPP government abandoned the Afari hospital for their 8-year rule in Ghana without adding a stone to the hospital project.

Any accusation usually attracts defense, especially in politics. The NPP received an invitation from their own former presidential aspirant to play ping-pong. Kennedy fired the first shot, creating a huge political capital for the ruling NDC government, and so the NPP rebuttals were inevitable. That is expected in politics. The NPP minority caucus in parliament called a press conference to give facts about how they inherited the Afari hospital project at 30% completion from the then NDC government in January 2017, and handed over same project in January 2025 to the incoming NDC government at 98% completion. The New Patriotic Party communicators questioned the motive behind Kennedy’s lie to defend his political opponent and cause disaffection towards his own political party, now in opposition.

NPP’s rebuttal to Honorable Kennedy Agyapong’s unwarranted and unprovoked attack on his own party has even infuriated Kennedy the more. In his reaction to NPP members calling him liar, he has promised to spill the beans in the party and to make sure NPP do not return to power. Some die-hard party members subsequently dared Kennedy to do his worst, calling him out on his bluff. Other NPP members are also wondering if they really want to honor the invitation to play this ping-pong with Kennedy.

Kennedy Agyapong’s ping-pong, will the NPP play? Ping-pong is played by two opposing players who take turns to play and returning a ball over the table and net fixed in the middle onto the opponent’s half of the table using small racket until a player fails to do it right, which then results in a point for the opponent. Play is fast, requiring quick fired reactions and constant attention, and is characterized by an emphasis on spin, which can affect the ball's trajectory more than in other ball sports. Considering how ping-pong is played, what shall it benefit the NPP to play this political ping-pong with Kennedy? The play would be fast, requiring quick fired reactions and constant attention, and the whole showdown would be characterized by an emphasis on spin and propaganda. Can the NPP afford to give constant attention to playing ping-pong with Kennedy? That would be a robbery of NPP’s reorganization resources, especially time.

NPP must close Kennedy’s page and move on no matter how painful it is. When dear ones die, we mourn, bury them, and move on with life. Refuse to play any ping-pong with Kennedy and his associates. If Kennedy could fire actions towards the NPP, even after the party’s presidential candidate paid a courtesy call on him in his own house for reconciliation, then the invitation to play ping-pong could be a big trap. Presumably, the agenda for the trap is to make the ruling NDC retain power in the 2028 general elections.

Currently, there is no noise in the NPP, presidential primaries are over, and the campaigning for internal party contest is ongoing without noise. On the other hand, the ruling NDC is yet to cross that hurdle and all the negative press would be centered on the NDC coupled with incumbency disadvantage. The grand agenda is to make NPP share the inevitable negative press in the media space with the NDC. NPP must outsmart the political plot and save themselves from falling into traps leading into the 2028 general elections. NPP gains more in building their party and offering policy alternatives than playing political ping-pong with Honorable Agyapong. Refuse to play pin-pong and move on to win with Bawumia.

Eben Johnson – Finland
(Letters Without Signature)