“Weak Candidate” vs. “Loose Cannon” – NPP’s 2028 Showdown Turns Ugly

“Weak Candidate” vs. “Loose Cannon” – NPP’s 2028 Showdown Turns Ugly

The gloves are off in the NPP flagbearer race as Former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong’s camps trade brutal blows .

The rivalry between the two camps  has erupted into a public war of words, with both sides trading fierce jabs over who is best placed to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) into the 2028 presidential election.

Kwasi Kwarteng, spokesperson for Kennedy Agyapong, ignited the latest political firestorm with a strongly worded statement dismissing calls for Dr. Bawumia to be given a second shot at the presidency. He argued that “second chances are not a reward for weak candidates; they are for winnable ones,” citing historical voting data to claim that Bawumia’s 41.61% in the 2024 polls marked the NPP’s worst performance in the Fourth Republic.

“Unlike Adu Boahen, Kufuor, and Akufo-Addo, who all improved the party’s vote share on their first attempt, Bawumia oversaw a decline,” Kwarteng charged, adding that the vice president’s loss of 1.67 million votes to John Mahama disqualified him from automatic consideration in 2028. He cast Kennedy Agyapong as the party’s “winnable candidate” capable of countering the NDC’s entrenched grip on power.

But Denis Miracles Aboagye, campaign spokesperson for Dr. Bawumia, hit back with equal force, accusing Kwarteng of “intellectual dishonesty” and “rewriting history.” He argued that Bawumia’s 2024 performance came amid unprecedented global and domestic economic crises, yet still mobilized more votes than any first-time NPP candidate except Akufo-Addo.

“The NPP rewards resilience, not just raw numbers,” Aboagye said, pointing to Akufo-Addo’s two failed presidential bids before his eventual victory in 2016. He dismissed Agyapong as a “loose cannon” whose “reckless temperament, divisive rhetoric, and lack of policy depth” would make him a “political suicide in waiting” for the party.

The exchange underscores the deepening fault lines within the NPP ahead of its flagbearer selection. While Agyapong’s camp is framing the race as a battle for a “winnable candidate,” Bawumia’s camp is positioning him as the “prepared, formidable and unifying leader” to take on the NDC in 2028.

With the rhetoric intensifying, the NPP faces the challenge of keeping its internal contest from becoming a bruising public spectacle that could weaken its chances in the next general election.