In the days before 3 October 2026, Kumasi was covered in the colours of the New Patriotic Party. Billboards of aspirants lined the road to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, and delegates filled the hostels around the city. On the Saturday, over 7,000 delegates from the 16 regions and external branches were due to vote for nine national positions. By the end of the day, John Boadu had been elected National Chairman and Justin Kodua Frimpong had been re-elected General Secretary.
Most people followed the ballot. Michael Ampadu, affectionately called Emotion, the Communications Officer of the NPP UK Branch, followed a different schedule. His media work began a week earlier, on 28 and 29 September, and carried on through the conference. He also moderated the Diaspora press conference.
The aim was straightforward. NPP UK does a great deal of work, but most of it is reported on the branch’s own pages and read by its own members. A national conference puts the party and the media in the same place, and the news that week was heavy. Ghana was talking about cocaine seizures, a nurse in custody over a TikTok account and the attempted arrest of an opposition MP. It was the right time to be heard by people in Ghana who do not follow the branch online.
Behind the tour is a man with a background in research and party work. Before becoming Communications Officer of the NPP UK Branch, Mr Ampadu served as Communications Officer of the Bristol Chapter of NPP UK and as Vice President of TESCON-UK. He once worked in the Parliament of Ghana as a Research Assistant to the Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, and he is studying for a doctorate in Learning, Leadership and Policy at the University of Bristol. That mix of party work, Parliament and study prepared him for a role where facts and composure both matter.
So where did he go? Mr Ampadu appeared on Onua TV, Movement TV, Oman FM, Net2TV, AsaasePa, Ashh FM and Wontumi TV. He travelled to Nsawam to visit Fawe FM. On the conference grounds in Kumasi, he spoke with Owia TV and Mabesh FM. That is ten stations in one tour, along with the press conference. The mix of television and radio was deliberate. Television reaches viewers at set times, while radio reaches homes, shops, cars and workplaces for hours. A branch in the United Kingdom rarely gets to speak to both. On this tour, NPP UK did. The schedule was heavy, with new studios and fresh questions each time.
The best way to see what he brought to the studios is to read what he said. Several of his remarks were turned into quote cards by the stations.
The cocaine seizures took up much of his time on Onua TV and Onua FM on 28 September. The Minority in Parliament had asked for Parliament to be recalled, and the Speaker had summoned the House for 29 September. Mr Ampadu began with the damage to the country’s name. “The recent cocaine busts are bringing disgrace to the country and damaging Ghana’s reputation,” he said.
From there he turned to accountability. “This cocaine scandal is not something that can be swept under the carpet,” he said. “The heads of institutions connected to the scandal should come out and explain to us how it happened.” His call was for the heads of the relevant institutions to speak in public. It matches the Minority’s demand to know how a container that left Ghana was found carrying nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at Dunkirk.
He also put a figure on it. “We, the NPP, believe that the cocaine-related scandals that have emerged in the country over the past one year are worth US$1 billion,” he said. The number is the party’s own estimate. The Minority has made a similar claim, putting high-profile seizures linked to Ghana at more than US$1 billion.
Another story filled the same week, and he did not avoid it. On 23 September, officers from the Economic and Organised Crime Office, EOCO, tried to arrest Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, the NPP MP for Manhyia South, at the Accra High Court. He had gone there as a lawyer for Salomey Baffoe, the Techiman nurse held over alleged links to the Ghana Jollof TikTok account. He drove away, saying the officer had shown no identification and no warrant. The Ghana Bar Association condemned the attempt, and the Minority called it an abuse of power. EOCO said the attempt was lawful and followed two invitations in February, which he disputes. An NDC Deputy General Secretary has said the move had nothing to do with the Jollof case.
Mr Ampadu took a different view. “The government is trying to divert attention from the cocaine issues, hence the attempted arrest of Lawyer Baffour Awuah,” he said. It is a political claim, and he made it as one. The case did not end there. On 30 September, the High Court authorised EOCO to arrest the MP, and he reported himself on 1 October. The court later granted him bail of GH¢10 million. Mr Ampadu spoke before the warrant, and the party and the government will keep arguing over what the case shows.
He was just as direct on the government’s record. “Mahama’s goodwill period is over,” he said. “Ghanaians are now experiencing his poor governance.” A new government gets time. By September 2026, the NDC had been in office for about 20 months, and in his view the goodwill was gone.
On AsaasePa 107.3 in Accra, in the Atumpan segment on 29 September, he put the point as a challenge. “I challenge the NDC to name just one signature initiative delivered in their 20 months in government,” he said. That is a test an opposition puts to any government. Supporters of the NDC will name policies of their own, and voters will judge which ones they can see in daily life.
On the same programme, he also spoke from the diaspora’s position. “Ghana’s reputation in the diaspora has taken a serious hit in recent days,” he said. The remark has weight coming from the United Kingdom. Ghanaians abroad are often asked about news from home, and when the news is about drug seizures of this size, they carry the questions into their workplaces and communities. Too often, the diaspora’s contribution is mentioned only around elections. Mr Ampadu’s appearances put it back into the conversation on Ghanaian stations while the party was choosing its leaders.
The Diaspora press conference carried the same message in a different form. Mr Ampadu moderated it, and a moderator sets the pace, keeps speakers to their time and stops the event from drifting. The role carried extra weight because of who was in the chair. An officer of an external branch was running a press event at the party’s national conference. For members abroad, who often feel far from decisions made in Accra and Kumasi, that was good to see.
I work alongside Michael, so I can say what I saw across all of these engagements. He was at ease in the studios. He answered questions directly, stayed on his message and kept his composure on difficult topics. Moving between party business, criticism of the government and the news of the day is hard on live programmes, and he managed it across the whole tour. The tour showed that NPP UK can be heard on the stations Ghanaians listen to and watch every day. That is something the whole communications office can be proud of.
That pride comes with responsibility. With this tour, Michael has set a standard for himself. Ten stations in one trip is a high mark, and people will now expect the same energy and clarity each time the party is in the news. We know it will not be easy. Studios are demanding, questions come fast and the news changes by the day. But the communications office does not belong to one person. As his Deputy, I can say that we are ready to work hard behind him. We will prepare well, support him on every platform and keep the branch’s message clear and steady. Michael has led from the front. The rest of us intend to keep up.
All of this points to a larger goal, which is 2028. The NPP has chosen its national officers and now turns to the general election, with Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as its presidential candidate. Every part of the party has work to do, including the branches abroad. Communications is part of that work, and each interview is a chance to put the party’s case to people who will vote. Michael Ampadu has taken NPP UK’s voice onto Ghana’s airwaves, and the task now is to keep it there.
Dr Bawumia will win the 2028 elections, and NPP UK communications will be part of that campaign from the start.
By Jibril Salifu, Deputy Communications Officer, NPP UK
