Former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has dismissed claims that he is responsible for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) poor showing in the Bawku enclave during the 2024 general elections, where the party failed to win a single seat across all six constituencies in the area.
Speaking to party supporters at Effiduase in the Ashanti Region on Thursday, September 11, as part of his campaign for the 2026 NPP presidential primaries, Dr. Bawumia addressed allegations linking the NPP’s losses in Bawku to the ongoing Mamprusi-Kusasi conflict.
“They say we lost the 2024 elections in the Bawku enclave because of the Mamprusi-Kusasi conflict. That doesn’t hold water. If that were the case, I would have been the first casualty—because I’m a Mamprusi. And I wasn’t even born when the conflict began,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia argued that the NPP’s electoral struggles in the Bawku area are longstanding and not connected to recent events or his ethnicity.
“Since 1965, there have been 11 elections in Ghana. In the Bawku zone, which includes six constituencies, the NPP’s best result was winning just two seats. In most of those elections, we won zero seats,” he noted.
He pointed out that even during periods when the NPP performed well nationally, the party still failed to make inroads in the Bawku enclave.
“In 2004, President J.A. Kufuor won the national election, yet the NPP secured zero seats in Bawku. Again, in 2012, with Nana Akufo-Addo as our flagbearer, we still got zero. It’s a known NDC stronghold. So how can I be blamed for what has been a historical trend?”
The six constituencies in the Bawku enclave are: Zebilla, Garu, Bawku Central, Binduri, Tempane, and Pusiga — all of which the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) won in 2024.
Dr. Bawumia’s comments come as internal party discussions heat up ahead of the NPP’s presidential primaries, with the former Vice President seeking to lead the party into the 2028 general elections.
