In the aftermath of a devastating electoral defeat in 2024, Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) finds itself in uncharted territory.
Once revered for its economic orthodoxy and democratic discipline, the party now faces a profound internal reckoning.
A new policy brief from IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, titled “The Missing Steps in the NPP’s Renewal from Rupture”, warned that the party’s current trajectory toward internal restructuring and renewal may be flawed, not by intention, but by its method and pace.
The NPP, still reeling from its electoral collapse, has announced that it will hold its presidential primaries on January 31, 2026. This move, according to the party leadership, marks the beginning of a wider process aimed at reorganising and energising its base.
However, the IMANI brief questioned whether this early move, unaccompanied by proper constitutional adherence and broad consultation, represents a genuine rebirth or merely a rushed recalibration that risks alienating key stakeholders.
At the heart of the party’s renewal plan is an ambitious grassroots restructuring. More than 317,000 officers are expected to be elected in the coming months, including over 286,000 polling station executives and 31,000 electoral area coordinators.
This body of grassroots officers will constitute approximately 95% of the delegates for the upcoming presidential primary.
Furthermore, a proposed constitutional amendment—expected to be debated at the July 19, 2025 National Delegates Conference—seeks to expand the delegate base by including all card-bearing ministers since 2001, all Members of Parliament past and present, all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) since 1997, and all party executives at various levels dating back to 1992.
For some within the party, this grand restructuring is a welcome shift, however, not all party leaders agree with this accelerated approach.
Some officials of the party have argued that Article 19 of the NPP Constitution outlines specific procedural steps for amending the party’s constitution—steps that, as of late June, had not been followed.
These procedural lapses, many have warned, not only undermine the party’s legal obligations but risk sowing deeper divisions within its already fragmented base.
The brief by IMANI echoed these concerns, cautioning against sacrificing constitutional integrity in the name of expediency.
Calls for Constitutional Integrity
The think tank warned that attempts to reconfigure the party’s power structures—such as broadening the delegate base to include party elders and institutional veterans—should not override established internal rules.
IMANI argued that while institutional memory and grassroots representation are not mutually exclusive, imposing changes without consultation could lead to backlash and further disenfranchisement among core members.
“The rationale for early primaries is being pitched as an attempt to give presidential aspirants more time to connect with the base. But if this comes at the cost of procedural fairness, then the party risks turning its renewal process into a zero-sum game.”
IMANI Brief
Another complication, according to IMANI, lies in the party’s current state of organisational limbo. With the national chairman reportedly indisposed and vice-chairpersons largely inactive, leadership appears rudderless at a time when direction is most needed.
While the party constitution allows the National Council to adjust the date of the presidential primary, it also stipulates that the election must be held no later than December 6, 2026—two years before the next general elections.
The six months between the July 2025 Delegates Conference and the January 2026 primary could be a logistical minefield, especially as the party simultaneously conducts elections for polling stations, electoral area, constituencies, regional, and national executives.
To avoid what IMANI called a “cascade of chaos,” the party must return to first principles: fidelity to its own constitutional processes, transparent communication, and inclusive decision-making.
“There is still time to salvage this process, but it will require the party leadership to recommit to due process, share critical documents like the Ocquaye Report, and ensure that proposed amendments are thoroughly debated at all levels.”
IMANI Brief
For IMANI, the concern is not merely procedural—it is existential, asserting that a rushed, elite-driven overhaul could deepen mistrust among party faithful and compromise the NPP’s ability to present a united front in 2028.
Grassroots empowerment, IMANI argued, should not be used as a veneer for top-down recalibration. Instead, it should emerge from meaningful engagement and shared ownership of the path forward.
The policy think-tank noted that as the July 19, 2025, Delegates Conference approaches, the NPP has a critical opportunity to demonstrate that it has learned from its 2024 defeat.
For IMANI, whether the party can rise from its current rupture will depend not on how quickly it elects a new leader, but on how faithfully it follows its own rules in the process.
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