Bawumia gives NPP a chance to gain grounds in the north – Nana Akomea

Managing Director of the State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, has said that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s candidacy as the NPP’s flagbearer in the upcoming 2024 general elections gives the party an advantage to compete effectively against the NDC in the north.

According to the STC boss, the Vice President’s candidacy nullifies the long-held perception that the NPP is an exclusive party catering only to a particular group of people.

He emphasised that Dr Bawumia’s presence brings diversity and inclusivity to the party’s brand image.

“He gives the party a chance to diversify the branding; he allows us to have a much more inclusive branding for the party. Over the period, we’ve always had leadership from a certain group, and this is the first time we’ve gone outside the group, so it gives us a more inclusive image,” he said.

Nana Akomea also believes that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s candidacy is poised to significantly impact the NDC’s electoral prospects in the northern regions.

He highlighted that following Dr Bawumia’s role as vice president and now a presidential candidate, the NPP’s influence in the north has grown significantly to the extent of even beating the NDC in the parliamentary elections.

“Bawumia erases that propaganda, and he gives us a fighting chance to neutralise the NDC in one of their strongholds, which is the north. And if you look at the northern region, the NPP is now the majority party in the northern region. When the seats became 31 seats for the 2012 elections, the NPP had 10 and the NDC had the rest. I think there was one independent out of the 31 seats.

“As we speak today, NPP has 16 seats, and NDC has 15. Who would have imagined that the NPP would today be the majority party in the northern region, but we are. And when you look at the presidential vote from 2008, it’s been going up for the number of constituencies the NPP has been winning since 2008 in the north, now we have almost shared it.

“We’ve won in about 14, and the NDC won 17 constituencies, so we’re inching up the presidential, for the parliamentary, we’ve taken over. And if you look at Bawumia’s home constituency, Walewale, we won it for the first time in 2012, and we’ve still retained it as our seat.

“So he gives us the best opportunity to give the NDC a showdown in some of their strongholds, particularly in the north. And we also hope that in the Zongos, he’ll also give them a showdown. And if he’s able to neutralise the NDC in two of their strongholds that gives us a fighting chance to retain power,” he stated on Joy FM.