The NPP Is Rebuilding: What Should the NDC Learn from the Kumasi Elections?

The New Patriotic Party’s national executive elections held at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on 3 October 2026 deserve more attention from the National Democratic Congress than the ordinary internal elections of an opposition party. The results clearly indicate how the NPP intends to rebuild after its heavy defeat in the 2024 general elections, and they also offer useful lessons for the NDC as a governing party looking towards 2028.

John Boadu has returned to the centre of NPP politics as National Chairman. Justin Frimpong Kodua retained his position as General Secretary with an impressive 4,486 votes, while Titus Glover was elected National Organiser. Henry Nana Boakye, Nana Akomea, Mavis Hawa Koomson, Abanga Fuseini, Alfred Kojo Thompson and Mohammed Ali Suraj are among those occupying other key positions in the new national executive.

John Boadu’s victory is particularly significant. Having previously served as General Secretary, lost that position in 2022, and now returned as National Chairman, he brings considerable knowledge of the party machinery and its grassroots structures. His victory, which followed a competitive race and a late alliance with Sammy Crabbe, also underlines the continuing importance of coalition-building within the NPP.

Perhaps the most striking result, however, was Justin Kodua’s. Receiving 4,486 votes against 1,340 for his closest challenger gives him considerable legitimacy within the party. Combined with Titus Glover as National Organiser and John Boadu as Chairman, this suggests an NPP deliberately reconstructing its organisational machinery for 2028.

The outcome also appears to have disappointed sections of the NPP support base. This should not automatically be interpreted as a serious split, but it raises an important question about how effectively the new leadership will manage competing expectations and preserve party cohesion. Much will depend on whether those who lost, and their supporters, can be brought fully into the rebuilding process.

The danger of mistaking electoral defeat for organisational death

One mistake political parties sometimes make is assuming that a decisive electoral victory permanently settles the political question. It does not. The NPP suffered a serious defeat in 2024, but political parties with deep national structures do not necessarily disappear after losing an election. They reorganise, repair internal relationships, renew leadership and attempt to reconnect with voters.

The Kumasi conference should therefore remind the NDC that the NPP of December 2024 and the NPP that contests the 2028 elections will not necessarily be politically or organisationally identical. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is already the NPP’s presidential candidate for 2028, and the party has now elected a national executive containing several experienced organisers. While the NDC governs, its principal opponent is already moving through an important phase of political and organisational consolidation.

The appropriate response should be neither fear nor complacency. The NDC should recognise that opposition parties can recover quickly when they retain strong structures, while governing parties can become vulnerable when they neglect their own organisation.

Government is not the same as the party

Every governing party faces a structural problem. Once it wins power, many of its strongest organisers move into government. Ministers, chief executives, board members, and advisers take on demanding responsibilities that differ from the everyday work of maintaining party structures, resolving local tensions, and sustaining relationships with grassroots members.

This is where the NDC should pay particular attention. The NPP now has national officers whose principal political responsibility is rebuilding the party, while many senior NDC figures are naturally occupied with government. If the NDC allows its branches, constituencies and regional structures to become dormant simply because it controls government, it may discover too late that administrative power is not the same as party organisation.

Political organisation cannot be restarted six months before an election. A strong party maintains continuous relationships with members, listens to complaints, resolves local conflicts, develops younger leaders and ensures that information flows between the grassroots and national leadership.

Governance will matter even more than organisation

However, there is an even more important point. The NDC's greatest advantage is not organisational. It is the opportunity to govern well and ensure that citizens experience improvements in their everyday lives.

The May 2026 Institute of Economic Affairs survey found President John Dramani Mahama’s approval rating at 58.9 per cent, with economic performance being the main reason given by those who approved of his performance. At the same time, the survey also suggested growing expectations that macroeconomic gains should translate into better living conditions, jobs and household security.

That distinction is crucial. People do not experience an economy only through inflation statistics, exchange rates and fiscal indicators. They experience it when they buy food, pay rent, look for work, pay school fees, seek healthcare and support their families. By 2028, the key political question will not simply be whether Ghana achieved attractive macroeconomic indicators, but whether economic stabilisation produced improvements ordinary citizens could feel.

For the NDC, delivery is therefore also political strategy. If macroeconomic gains coexist with persistent unemployment, high household costs and weak public services, the opposition will have material with which to challenge the government. If economic progress becomes visible in people’s lives, the governing party will be better positioned to defend its record.

Youth employment cannot become another slogan

Youth employment deserves particular attention. Ghana has a large population of young people whose expectations are understandably high. Many are educated, digitally connected and increasingly unwilling to accept a political culture in which opportunities appear to depend on party connections rather than competence and fair access.

The government should therefore treat youth employment not merely as one policy sector among many, but as a central development challenge. Young people need credible pathways into employment, entrepreneurship, skills development and economic participation. The effectiveness of government programmes should be judged not by how many are launched, but by whether young people can identify concrete opportunities resulting from them.

Accountability also matters. Public confidence can quickly be damaged if citizens believe political insiders have captured programmes intended for ordinary people. Youth employment policies must therefore combine opportunity creation with fairness, transparency and measurable outcomes.

The succession question may become the NDC’s most difficult test

The NDC cannot indefinitely avoid another issue. President Mahama cannot simply occupy the same position in the 2028 electoral equation that he did in 2024, and questions concerning the party’s next presidential candidate will become increasingly important.

Handled badly, succession contests can divide governing parties years before an election. Ministers begin positioning themselves, supporters form camps and government decisions are interpreted through the lens of presidential ambitions. Party members can gradually become more interested in who succeeds the President than in whether the government itself succeeds.

The NDC should therefore allow its established constitutional procedures to regulate the eventual contest. Potential candidates are entitled to have political ambitions, but those ambitions should not become competing centres of power within government and the party long before the appropriate time. The legitimacy of the eventual candidate will depend partly on whether members believe the process was transparent, fair and respectful of the party’s rules.

Do not underestimate a defeated opponent

The broader lesson from Kumasi is that the NPP is rebuilding seriously. John Boadu’s return brings experience, Justin Kodua’s overwhelming re-election gives him considerable authority, Titus Glover assumes responsibility for national organisation, and Bawumia is already the party’s presidential candidate. None of this guarantees victory in 2028, but it shows clearly that the NPP is not sitting passively with the consequences of its 2024 defeat.

The NDC should therefore resist any temptation to believe that the 2024 election permanently settled Ghana’s political future. Ghana’s two major parties have repeatedly shown an ability to recover from defeat, reorganise and return as serious competitors.

The most useful response for the NDC is neither panic nor triumphalism, but disciplined governance combined with sustained party organisation. Branches must remain active, constituency structures must function, grassroots members must feel heard, internal disputes must be addressed, and premature succession battles must not distract from governing.

Above all, economic improvements must become improvements citizens can recognise in their own lives. By 2028, the NPP will ask Ghanaians to reconsider the decision they made in 2024. The NDC, unlike the opposition, will have four years of governing record to defend. Whether that record becomes an advantage or a burden will depend far more on what happens between now and 2028 than on anything that happened at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium this weekend.