Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh was Dr Bawumia’s running mate during the 2024 election
A new layer has been added to the ongoing conversation about the New Patriotic Party’s 2028 ticket, following pointed remarks attributed to host of Asempa Fm’s late afternoon political talk show Ekosiisen, Philip Osei Bonsu, who has questioned the logic behind calls to change Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s running mate despite the findings of the party’s own post-election review.
According to Osei Bonsu, the Election Review Committee chaired by Professor Mike Oquaye was clear in its assessment of the party’s 2024 defeat — and crucially, the Bawumia–NAPO ticket was not cited as the cause. For him, that fact alone should settle the matter.
“If the Ocquaye Committee did not indict Dr Bawumia or Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh for the loss, then on what basis are people demanding a change?” he reportedly asked. “You cannot ignore your own official findings and replace them with speculation and personal ambition.”
The Ocquaye Report, commissioned to provide an honest and evidence-based account of the party’s electoral performance, focused largely on structural challenges, governance fatigue, messaging gaps and broader political dynamics.
Nowhere, party insiders note, did it recommend a change in the presidential ticket as a corrective measure.
For Osei Bonsu and others who share his view, the sudden agitation to replace NAPO appears disconnected from facts and driven more by lobbying than logic.
They argue that if the party truly respects its internal processes, then the conclusions of its own review committee must be taken seriously.
He further contends that scapegoating individuals who were cleared by the party’s official report risks repeating old mistakes.
“We cannot be a party that commissions reports only to discard their findings when they don’t suit certain interests,” he cautioned.
At the grassroots level, this argument is gaining traction. Many party faithful say changing a running mate who was not blamed for defeat would amount to admitting an error that the party itself has already ruled out.
“You don’t fix what the doctor says is not broken,” one constituency executive remarked.
Supporters of the Bawumia–NAPO ticket also note that the Ocquaye Committee’s work was meant to guide reform, not fuel internal contestation.
Reopening the running mate debate, they say, risks diverting attention from the real work of party reorganisation, voter reconnection and message renewal ahead of 2028.
For Philip Osei Bonsu, the issue ultimately comes down to discipline and consistency.
“If we say we believe in institutions,” he argues, “then we must respect their conclusions. The report did not blame the ticket. So why are we trying to change one half of it?”
As the NPP charts its path forward, that question is proving difficult to dismiss.
And within party circles, the message is becoming clearer: if the Ocquaye Report absolved both Bawumia and NAPO, then continuity — not change — remains the most defensible choice.
