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Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman, has said the party’s loss in the 2024 election was not Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s fault.
Wontumi argued that the root causes of the NPP’s defeat were internal divisions that undermined the party.
Speaking to party delegates and the media, Wontumi stated, “The loss we suffered was internal, it was not Dr Bawumia’s fault.”
He further urged NPP members to instead focus on their internal divisions.
Wontumi added that criticism against Bawumia was unfair and politically motivated.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has rejected claims that the party’s electoral loss was due to his religion or ethnicity.
According to Bawumia, he told former president Akufo-Addo he would not run again if Prof Mike Ocquaye’s report attributed the party’s defeat to me.
Dr Bawumia stressed that if the report had held him responsible for the defeat, he would have prioritised the party’s interests over his personal ambitions.
Speaking to delegates at Abuakwa on Saturday, September 13, 2025, Dr. Bawumia detailed, “Before Ocquaye report came out, I had a meeting with Akufo-Addo and others. We were having a discussion about reasons on why we lost the 2024 election.
“I told Akufo-Addo that if the findings of the Ocquaye report indicate that because I’m a Muslim or because or I’m a Mamprusi-Kusasi, we lost the election, I will step down and not contest anymore. This is what I told Akufo-Addo. Because I will not choose my interest over the party’s interest. The party’s interest must always be ahead of me.
“I told Akufo-Addo that because of the party, I will sacrifice any ambition including the fact that if I contest, we will lose. But when the Ocquaye report, Ashanti report and Konrad Adenauer Foundation report came out, all of them pointed to the same conclusion – religion, tribe was not a factor in the 2024 election,” Dr. Bawumia added.
In a separate video, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said he cannot be blamed for the party’s poor performance in the Bawku zone in the 2024 elections.
The NPP during the 2024 election failed to secure a seat in any of the six constituencies.
Dr Bawumia argued that the NPP’s struggles in the Bawku enclave are historical,
He noted that the area has traditionally been a stronghold of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Additionally, Prof Kingsley Nyarko, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso, has asked NPP members why they are blaming the party’s defeat on Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, when the party could not maintain its 138 seats in parliament.
The lawmaker asserted that he does not understand why people blame the party’s defeat in the 2024 election on Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
He emphasised that it is irrational to blame the defeat solely on Bawumia, as the party had 138 parliamentarians across the 276 constituencies but could not maintain its seat in the 2024 general election.
According to him, if the NPP had won more seats or maintained their seat with Dr Bawumia losing, he would have sided with those accusing the former vice president of the party’s defeat.