NPP signals strategic overhaul as party begins long road back to power

Three years out from Ghana’s next general election, the New Patriotic Party is already in rebuilding mode, and one of its prominent figures says the party has no intention of returning to 2028 with the same playbook that cost it 2024.

Sammi Awuku, Member of Parliament for Akuapem North and former NPP National Organiser, used an appearance on the AM Show on April 22 to signal that a significant strategic shift is underway within the party, describing the current moment as one of honest reflection and deliberate reorganisation.

“There will be a shift in strategy to win 2028,” he said plainly.

At the centre of that shift, according to Awuku, is a return to the grassroots, a more grounded, community-level engagement that he says was missing from the party’s recent approach. The NPP, he suggested, needs to move closer to the people it is asking to vote for it, understand their lived realities, and ensure its policies and messaging actually reflect what is happening on the ground.

He pointed to party leader Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as already embodying that approach. “Dr Bawumia is engaging with people to understand their problems and know how they are doing,” he said.

Beyond outreach, Awuku stressed the importance of internal discipline, ensuring that communicators, organizers and leadership are speaking from the same page. Fragmented messaging, he implied, was a weakness the party can no longer afford.

“The focus is to listen more, engage more, and organise better,” he said.

The party is also reviewing its previous campaign strategies, with new methods being adopted to sharpen voter engagement and improve organisational efficiency across all levels of its structure.

For a party that won the presidency in 2016 and 2020 before losing in 2024, the task is as much about rebuilding trust as it is about restructuring operations, and Awuku made clear the NPP understands that distinction.