The announcement by the National Council of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the Party shall hold Presidential Primaries on 31st January 2026 to elect the Party’s 2028 Presidential Candidate has generated intense national conversation, particularly within the political milieu. Some critics, both within and outside the Party, have said that the NPP is embarking on a suicide mission, for attempting to, in their words, adopt a so-called top to bottom approach in its internal elections.
Others have said the Party is setting aside its Constitution to advance the political agenda of certain individual members of the Party. But is this really the case? Are these critics justified or are they being influenced by ignorance and misinformation or mischief? The writer seeks to provide answers to these questions and set the records straight.
WHICH ORGAN/BODY WITHIN THE PARTY HAS THE CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE TO FIX DATE AND VENUE FOR PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES?
The Constitution of the NPP provides clearly under Article 13(1)(1) that the date and venue for the election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate SHALL be decided by the National Council of the Party. So, the National Council is the ONLY COMPETENT BODY to fix date for Presidential Primaries. The decision of the National Council on the date and venue for Presidential Primaries is NOT subject to ratification or approval by the National Annual Delegates Conference. If that was the intendment of the framers of the NPP Constitution, they would have stated so expressly in the Constitution, just as they have done in other provisions where decisions by lower bodies require approval or ratification by higher decision-making bodies.
IS THE NPP ADOPTING A ‘TOP TO BOTTOM APPROACH’ IN ITS INTERNAL ELECTIONS?
The answer is a big NO. The NPP is not and has not contemplated changing its traditional approach to electing Party executives. Article 5(2) of the NPP Constitution provides the structure and organization of the Party, and states that: “The Party shall be based on Polling Station, Electoral Area, Constituency, External, Regional and National Organizations”. In accordance with this, the Party has always elected executives from the Polling Station to Electoral Area, to Constituency, to Regional and then to National level (i.e. Bottom to Top Approach), and will continue to do exactly that. Per the Party Constitution, the position of the Presidential Candidate is not part of the structure and organization of the Party. It is neither at the top nor the bottom, because it is just not part of the structure.
In the same vein, the Party’s Parliamentary Primaries to elect Parliamentary Candidates do not constitute part of the Structure and Organization of the Party. That is why the Party’s National Executive Committee can decide, per Article 12 of the NPP Constitution, to fix any date to hold Parliamentary Primaries, and have, in fact, almost always fixed separate dates for Parliamentary Primaries in ‘Orphan Constituencies’ and Parliamentary Primaries in Constituencies where the Party has sitting MPs.
Consequently, the Party’s Presidential and Parliamentary Candidates per se, are not part of internal Party Structure and Organization until they win their respective elections during the general elections conducted by the Electoral Commission of Ghana and are sworn in as President of the Republic and Members of Parliament respectively. In a nutshell, the NPP Constitution treats the Party’s Presidential and Parliamentary Primaries completely different from the election of Party Executives.
Based on the foregoing, the decision by the National Council to hold the Party’s Presidential Primaries first should not and cannot be construed as a Top to Bottom Approach. Once again, the NPP Presidential Primary is a completely independent standalone election from the election of Party Executives. For the avoidance of doubt, the NPP is, in accordance with its Constitution and convention, maintaining the usual Bottom to Top Approach, i.e. electing Party Executives from the Bottom [Polling Station Executives’ elections] all the way to the Top [National Executives’ elections].
The justification for conducting early Presidential Primaries ahead of Party’s Executives’ elections stems from the fact that currently, the position of flagbearer is the only vacant position existing in the Party. All the Party Executives from Polling Station to National Executives are still at post because their 4-year mandate has not expired yet and will not expire until after the election of the flagbearer which is scheduled to take place in January 2026. The mandate of the current Polling Station executives will expire in March 2026, followed by the Constituency, Regional and National Executives in the subsequent months.
WHY DID THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FIX JANUARY 31ST, 2026, FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES AND WHY SHOULD THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES BE CONDUCTED FIRST?
At its meeting on Tuesday, 17th June 2025, the National Council of the NPP received the Report of the Frank Davies-led Constitution Amendments Committee, which was set up by the Party to identify provisions in its Constitution that require amendments in order to give effect to the recommendations of the Prof. Mike Oquaye Election Review Committee and to also receive proposals for constitutional amendments from Party Members and Identifiable Groups.
The Amendments Committee reported to the National Council that all the proposals they received from Party Members on Presidential Primaries were calling on the Party to conduct early Presidential Primaries to elect a flagbearer considering the ‘extraordinary situation’ the Party finds itself. The Committee submitted that electing a flagbearer now makes him potentially, the next President of Ghana in the eyes of the international community, political opponents, the business community, civil society and the generality of Ghanaians.
The NPP is in urgent need of an “Opposition Leader”, which position comes with gravitas to be able to lead the Party in these times of crisis where some of their members are facing state-sponsored tyranny, intimidation and political persecution. Another advantage to the NPP is that the Presidential Candidate’s presence invariably strengthens donor confidence and helps coordinate resource mobilization to deal with the current financial challenges facing the Party. Equally, the country is in urgent need of an “Opposition Leader” to take on the NDC Government on matters of governance, providing credible alternatives to the Ghanaian people.
On the order of the elections, the Committee noted that there was an overwhelming demand from the Party Members for the Presidential Primaries to be conducted FIRST, after having expanded the electoral college for the election of the Presidential Candidate with the inclusion of all former MMDCEs, all former MPs, all former Ministers, all former Deputy Ministers, all former Constituency Executives, all former Regional Executives and all former National Officers.
It would also include TESCON Coordinators as well as Constituency, Regional and National Council of Elders and Patrons. All these additions are being made to the electoral college to bring everybody onboard in order to address the issue of apathy, which has been identified in the Oquaye Report as one of the reasons for the Party’s 2024 electoral defeat.
After extensive deliberations, the National Council overwhelmingly adopted the Committee’s recommendations relating to the election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate which was construed as the best approach to urgently fill the leadership vacuum in the party’s reorganization towards clinching a historic victory in the 2028 general elections.
It was also noted that electing the flagbearer first will greatly reduce the acrimony caused by various presidential aspirants fielding or sponsoring different candidates in internal elections which eventually leads to the formation of factions at all levels of the Party. The subsequent elections to be held without this interference will allow the Party’s best talents to lead, because the Presidential Candidate and indeed all the people that matter will be more interested in getting competent party executives that will help the Presidential Candidate win the general elections.
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (DELEGATES) FOR THE 31ST JANUARY PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES
If the recommendations of both the Oquaye and Frank Davies Committee on expanding the electoral college for the election of the flagbearer to include former office holders and patrons/elders, are adopted by the National Delegates Conference on 19th July, 2025 at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium, then the electoral college (delegates) that will be electing the Party’s flagbearer on 31st January 2026 shall include:
All current Polling Station executives; all current Constituency Executives; representatives of each External Branch; all current Regional Executives; and all current National Executives. These executives have a 4-year mandate which has not expired. There is also no provision in the NPP Constitution that grants any organ of the Party, not even the highest decision-making body, (i.e. the National Annual Delegates Conference) the authority to truncate the mandate of duly elected party executives prematurely. The Party’s decision to conduct Presidential Primaries FIRST means that there shall be no election of party executives at any level after the 31st January 2026 Presidential Primaries.
An elected executive of the Party only loses his position if he is expelled from the Party, resigns, dies, joins another party, supports an Independent Candidate, or is removed from office in accordance with the elaborate procedures in Article 11 of the NPP Constitution. So long as these current party executives remain in office by the date scheduled for the conduct of the Presidential Primaries (i.e. 31st January 2026), they will be part of the electoral college.
The mandate of the current Polling Station executives will expire in March 2026, followed by Constituency Executives, whose mandate will expire in April 2026, then Regional Executives, whose mandate will expire in May 2026, and then National Executives, whose mandate will expire in July 2026.
All former Constituency Executives from 1992; All former Regional Executives from 1992; and all former National Executives from 1992;
All former Members of Parliament from 1996; all former Ministers from 2001; all former Deputy Ministers from 2001; and all former Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) from 2001,
All the members of the National Council of Elders; all the members of the National Council of Patrons; 10 members of each Regional Council of Patrons; 10 members of each Regional Council of Patrons; 5 members of each Constituency Council of Elders; 5 members of each Constituency Council of Patrons; and all TESCON Coordinators.
CONCLUSION
It is instructive to note that this expansion of the electoral college for the 31st January 2026 Presidential Primaries can be achieved without the Party holding any prior internal elections, which is in line with the National Council’s decision on June 17, 2025, where the Party resolved that Presidential Primaries shall be held first before any other internal elections. There is no requirement of elections to determine former Party Executives from Constituency to the National level.
There is no requirement of election to determine former Ministers, former Deputy Ministers, former MPs, and former MMDCEs. There is equally no requirement of election to determine party patrons, party elders and TESCON coordinators. So, the Party will be able to elect a Presidential Candidate on 31st January 2026 with an expanded electoral college of about 300,000 delegates, thus, making the NPP presidential electoral college, the biggest and most inclusive in the country and beyond.
Assalamu alaikum
The writer, Iddi Muhayu-Deen, ESQ., can be reach via muhayudeen2007@yahoo.com
