Prof. Kwaku Azar Slams NPP’s “Reform” Timetable as Power Grab Without Accountability

Prof. Kwaku Azar Slams NPP’s “Reform” Timetable as Power Grab Without Accountability

Renowned legal scholar and governance advocate, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has launched a scathing critique of the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) recently released internal elections timetable, calling it a dangerous diversion from genuine reform and an assault on party democracy.

In a sharply worded statement titled “The NPP’s Dance Around Reform,” Prof. Azar questioned the party’s decision to hold its presidential primaries on January 31, 2026, even before finalizing elections for polling station executives and other grassroots leadership.

“The sequencing is not just unconventional. It is dangerous — both for internal party democracy and for the integrity of Ghana’s broader political system,” he warned.

Presidency Before Reform?

At the heart of Prof. Azar’s critique is the decision to prioritize the selection of a new flagbearer while leaving the party’s structural and grassroots renewal pending.

“This is like planting seeds in soil that has not been tilled,” he noted. “A party that refuses to rebuild its foundation before constructing its flagship is not serious about renewal. It is serious about control.”

According to the announced schedule:

• Polling Station Elections: 6th December 2025
• Presidential Primaries: 31st January 2026
• Constituency, Regional, and National Elections: Dates yet to be announced

Where Is the 2024 Post-Mortem?

Prof. Azar also took aim at the party's apparent refusal to release a public, transparent assessment of its 2024 electoral defeat, describing the silence as “deafening.”

“How can any reform be credible when the party refuses to tell Ghanaians and its members what went wrong?” he asked, highlighting the absence of answers to key questions around policy missteps, leadership failures, and strategic blunders.

Recycling the Defeated?

In what he termed “reform without reformers,” the outspoken professor criticized the continued dominance of party executives who led the NPP into defeat in 2024, noting that many of them are now leading the supposed renewal process.

“You cannot put the same captains who ran the ship aground back at the helm and expect a different voyage,” he said. “Reform must begin with accountability.”

The Delegate System: Elephant in the Room

Prof. Azar further challenged the NPP to confront what he described as its biggest internal democratic flaw — the delegate system.

He lamented that the party has made no effort to empower its ordinary members, who continue to be sidelined in favor of a small group of delegates “often captured by money, inducements, and incumbents.”

“This is not reform. It is recycling,” he wrote.

Final Warning: Reform or Perish

Calling for immediate course correction, Prof. Azar urged the NPP to:

• Release a full 2024 electoral post-mortem
• Refresh its leadership
• Reform its internal electoral processes
• Prioritize grassroots reorganization

“You cannot skip accountability, silence the base, fast-track the presidency and still claim to be a democratic party,” he cautioned. “Let the scheming stop. Let the system breathe. Let the people speak.”

A Message Beyond the NPP

While targeted at the ruling party, Prof. Azar’s critique may resonate more broadly across Ghana’s political landscape, where growing calls for internal party democracy, transparency, and post-defeat accountability continue to gain traction.

As the NPP positions itself for a political comeback, observers will be watching closely to see whether the party heeds this call — or repeats the mistakes of the past.