The National Council of the New Patriotic yesterday approved a comprehensive calendar of activities leading to the election of the New Patriotic Party Executives across the organisational structure of the Party.

In spite of an intense coordinated push by some “inward looking” senior members of the party to start the elections from “top to bottom” or to skip the elections at the Pollings and start from the Constituency, Council stood firm and shot down these false pretense, lies and deceit to dishonestly obtain its approval for the elections to be conducted in the most strange, untested and ludicrous manner.

I commend Council for acting in a manner that was moral, constitutional, ethical, and just in the face of an overly selfish agenda orchestrated some people to undermine and subvert the Party’s constitution.

As we prepare for the internal elections, members and delegates must pause to reflect on what kind of party we intend to rebuild for the future.

After the bruising experiences of the recent electoral disaster and the urgent task of reorganising the Party towards 2028, discipline, fairness, and unity are no longer optional virtues, they are necessities.

Yet, an unhealthy trend has begun to surface. Across constituency, regional, and national contests, some aspiring party officers are openly and privately trading on the name of our flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as a campaign shortcut.

This practice is wrong, corrosive, and must be firmly rejected by delegates at all levels.

Dr. Bawumia is not the property of any faction, slate, or overly ambitious individuals.

He is the democratically elected flagbearer of the entire party and, by extension, a symbol of collective ownership and shared responsibility.

To weaponise his name for personal advancement is to cheapen that symbolism and undermine the unity he represents.

The NPP is at a crossroads. The road to 2028 demands sober reflection, institutional renewal, and a recommitment to the party’s core values; property-owning democracy, meritocracy, and service to the grassroots.

Internal elections are meant to produce the best organisers, mobilisers, and thinkers at every level of the party, not the most audacious name-droppers.

Aspiring party officers must therefore be judged on the strength of their own records: their loyalty to the party in difficult times, their sacrifices when resources were scarce, their accessibility to party people, and the practical innovations they bring to grow our membership, energise our base and strategically place us in a position that will win us more votes to win power in 2028.

These are the credentials that matter—not claimed proximity to the flagbearer.

Delegates must also be clear-eyed about the risks of tolerating this opportunism. Those who deploy Dr. Bawumia’s name today to secure internal power are likely to deploy similar shortcuts tomorrow, even at the cost of party cohesion.

Worse still, they risk dragging the flagbearer into unnecessary internal controversies, creating the false impression of endorsement where none exists.

This does not help Dr. Bawumia; it exposes him to avoidable political liabilities.

At a time when the party needs healing, not hierarchy; mobilisation, not manipulation; ideas, not insinuations, such behaviour is a distraction the NPP can ill afford.

Unity can not be built on implied blessings and whispered associations. It must be built on trust, transparency, and respect for process.

Dr. Bawumia stands for all members of the New Patriotic Party; polling station executives, constituency officers, regional officers, national leaders, loyal foot soldiers, sympathisers of the Party and floating voters alike.

His leadership going forward must be insulated from internal opportunism so that, he can focus on the bigger national task ahead and lead in the execution of an excellent campaign.

The message to delegates, therefore, must be unambiguous: reject any aspiring party officer who campaigns by trading on the flagbearer’s name.

Reward substance over shortcuts. Choose character and competence over convenience and ineptness.

If the NPP is serious about rebuilding a credible, united, strong Party and become an election-winning machine for 2028, that resolve must begin now, within our own internal democratic processes.

Let's win 2028 together.