Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer aspirant, Kwabena Agyepong, has emphasised the need for the party to move beyond the blame game and focus on learning from its 2024 electoral defeat to rebuild and restore public trust.
Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, April 29, Agyepong said the party must avoid being “imprisoned by the past” and instead draw meaningful lessons from the loss.
He highlighted growing dissatisfaction among party members with the internal electoral process, which many view as “monetised” and “manipulated.”
According to Agyepong, there is a growing push for a more inclusive system, with some members advocating for a broader voting base of card-bearing party members.
“I don’t want to go into history because what I have learned is that you can’t reverse what has happened in the past. So, you learn lessons from it. And as a political party, we should learn lessons from the defeat. That is why we put together, this Oquaye committee,” he said.
He added, “It’s important we don’t get imprisoned by the past. Learn quick lessons, and NPP has a lot of platforms, you run through it, and what is clear is that people are dissatisfied with the closed electoral system, which they feel has been monetised, manipulated in the past.
“So we are looking for more inclusive arrangements. There are two schools of thought—either we go the full haul and open it up to all card-bearing members.”
Responding to calls for identifying and blaming those responsible for the defeat, Agyepong firmly rejected the idea.
“I totally disagree with you. People have held poles and assigned percentages to those who are to be blamed for our defeat, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re in opposition. I’m not going to waste precious time and emotions to look at that. We are out of the office.”
He urged party members to shift their focus toward rebuilding and regaining public confidence.
“Any honest party leader knows why. No corporate entity brings out its strategy plan in public. To rebuild and regroup is to earn the respect of the country and win back our lost supporters. It’s the interventions that matter.”
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