Paul Afoko, suspended as NPP National Chairman in 2015 over claims he undermined the party’s flagbearer, is seeking the same position again with backing from Bawumia, Akufo-Addo and Kufuor.
His removal nearly a decade ago was one of the more contentious episodes in the party’s recent history. Afoko, then General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong and then Vice Chairman Sammy Crabbe were all suspended together in October 2015 by the party’s National Executive Committee, plunging the NPP into a constitutional crisis that ended up in court. The court ultimately upheld the suspension, a ruling Afoko has since described as bizarre, and his renewed candidacy required a decision from party officials on whether a suspended member could contest again at all, since the suspension itself was never formally reversed even though he remained a registered party member throughout. “What we started then, we can do again and do it better,” Afoko said at a press conference in Accra on July 14, where he formally announced his bid.
Afoko is campaigning on what he calls a 3R Agenda, standing for Reunite, Rebuild and Recapture, and describes the chairman’s job as requiring far more than administration. He told reporters he would serve as “a team player, a field commander, a reconciler, an organiser, a fundraiser, a disciplinarian, a listener and a servant of the party,” and pledged to rebuild the party from the polling station level up through electoral areas, constituencies and regional executives, backed by a genuine two way flow of information between grassroots members and national leadership.
His path to the announcement involved one of the more extensive consultation tours of any aspirant this cycle. Beyond meetings with the party’s 2024 flagbearer Mahamudu Bawumia, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Afoko also engaged National Patrons, the National Council of Elders, and regional executives and elders across all sixteen regions, along with the parliamentary caucus. He had earlier met all five aspirants ahead of the party’s January 31 presidential primary. By his own account, Bawumia was his first stop, followed by Akufo-Addo, who he said told him he would work with whoever wins the chairmanship, and Kufuor, who he said gave him his blessing to run.
The comeback bid is not without internal resistance. Former National Chairman Freddie Blay has publicly rejected Afoko’s candidacy and thrown his backing behind rival aspirant Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known as Chairman Wontumi, a reminder that Afoko’s return divides opinion within the same leadership ranks that oversaw his removal in 2015. Afoko has said he never abandoned the party despite not completing his original term, and plans to file his nomination formally once the party’s process opens.
