The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, says the party can win the 2028 presidential election if it begins rebuilding its grassroots structures now rather than waiting until the election approaches.
According to him, the party’s defeat in the 2024 election exposed weaknesses in its internal organisation, particularly at the constituency and polling station levels.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana on Monday, August 17, Mr Ahiagbah said the NPP must move away from running the party from Accra and instead put its resources and attention at the grassroots.
“The party must not be in Accra, the party must be in the constituency,” he said, arguing that sustained engagement with voters must begin long before the 2028 polls.
He said the NPP’s reorganisation process is already showing that grassroots members are demanding leaders who can help the party regain political power.
Mr Ahiagbah explained that the party’s polling station executives are the foundation of its electoral structure because they are closest to voters.
“The party is a polling station,” he said, adding that polling station representatives first select constituency leaders, while constituency executives in turn choose regional leaders who they believe can help deliver victory.
He said the same principle should guide the selection of the party’s national executives.
According to him, the NPP’s focus should be on choosing leaders who can strengthen the party from the bottom up, rather than concentrating power at the national level.
“The look is from bottom up and not top down,” he said.
Mr Ahiagbah, who is seeking to become the NPP’s First National Vice Chairman, said his immediate priority would be to ensure that the party begins resourcing constituencies and polling stations immediately after the national executive elections.
He said the party must establish relationships with voters and communities on a continuous basis instead of rushing to campaign only months before an election.
“It’s not three days or one week to election that you are running around trying to get people to believe in your vision,” he said.
“We would have done that on a daily basis by the time they become disciples of the message and the direction we want to go.”
Mr Ahiagbah also blamed the NPP’s 2024 defeat partly on internal problems, including what he described as excessive personalisation of the party, parallel structures and inadequate attention to constituencies.
He said some party members who had worked for the NPP’s victories in 2016 and 2020 became disillusioned because they felt their efforts had not translated into meaningful benefits or recognition.
“They haven’t seen any transformation. You call on the same people to do the work,” he said.
According to him, that dissatisfaction contributed to apathy and weakened the party’s grassroots support ahead of the 2024 election.
“Our foundation was weakened, and we thought that the building was still strong,” he said.
Mr Ahiagbah said the NPP must therefore rebuild and continuously maintain its grassroots base if it wants to return to power and remain competitive in future elections.
He also dismissed the idea that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) did anything extraordinary to defeat the NPP in 2024.
“In 2024, the NDC didn’t do anything extraordinary,” he said, arguing that internal challenges within the NPP played a significant role in the party’s poor performance.
He cited unresolved grievances from parliamentary primaries, internal disputes and the failure to properly reconcile some aggrieved members as factors that contributed to voter apathy within the NPP.
Richard Ahiagbah further criticised the government’s implementation of the 24-hour economy policy, describing the campaign promise as a “lie” that had not materialised in the form promised to Ghanaians.
He argued that a successful 24-hour economy should be driven by demand and increased production rather than simply extending government administrative operations.
“If you want to do 24-hour economy, you don’t tell us you run the economy so much that there is demand, production has increased and people want more of the produce you are making,” he said.
On the NPP’s internal elections, Mr Ahiagbah said the party had turned a new page following the recent reorganisation and the election of regional executives.
He said the party’s various factions and former flagbearer aspirants were now working together behind Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who is expected to lead the NPP into the 2028 election.
“The party has turned a new leaf,” he said.
Mr Ahiagbah said his decision to contest the First National Vice Chairman position was driven by his desire to influence broader party reforms rather than remain focused solely on communications.
“I chose not to contest for Communication Director apparently because I see the global issue with the party,” he said.
He said he wanted a position that would give him the opportunity to work with the national chairman and other executives to decentralise the party and strengthen its structures across the country.
“The party must be wrestled from national and brought down to the people to manage,” he said.
Mr Ahiagbah said his ultimate ambition was not simply to secure a position within the party, but to help the NPP regain power in 2028 and build a structure capable of sustaining future electoral victories.
“The objective of our political party is to win political power,” he said.
He added that the NPP could win successive elections if it properly manages its internal affairs and gives greater responsibility and resources to its grassroots structures.
“I believe if we do that, the New Patriotic Party can win the 2028 election, and subsequently will continue to win,” he said.
