As the New Patriotic Party (NPP) prepares for its presidential primaries on January 31, a leading voice in governance and public policy has cautioned the party against prioritizing high-level peace agreements over the urgent need to reconnect with its disillusioned grassroots base.
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Prof Ransford Gyampo, speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, likened the party’s current approach to “constructing a huge tower building without digging down a solidified foundation.”
His comments follow a recent meeting convened by President Nana Akufo-Addo, which brought together seasoned party elders and presidential aspirants to sign a peace pact aimed at ensuring a united front ahead of the internal contest.
While Professor Gyampo acknowledged that the peace pact was “good for the optics,” he questioned its substantive impact if the party’s core supporters remain disengaged.
“All over the world, I know that both Boklana and mass political parties are powered by their base,” Gyampo stated.
“So if you yourself argue that in the previous election, your own base did not vote for you, or your own base decided not to vote, then if you are trying to contest another election, it depends on you to do… what is necessary and what is important: rebrand and rejuvenate your base.”
He emphasised that, given the scale of the NPP’s defeat in the last general election, his priority would have been a comprehensive rebranding and outreach campaign targeting the party’s foundation—the ordinary members and sympathizers whose turnout is critical for electoral success.
“Who does that?” Gyampo asked rhetorically, reinforcing his point that no lasting political structure can be built from the top down without a solid, mobilised foundation.
As the internal contest concludes, all eyes will be on whether the winning aspirant can pivot quickly from intra-party politics to the more arduous work of base reconstruction, a project Prof Gyampo suggests should have been the starting point, not an afterthought.
“Given the kind of defeat suffered,” he concluded, “I would have gone for the rebranding.”
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