A political risk analyst and a fellow at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Theo Acheampong, has stated that the perceived delay by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in naming its running mate for the 2024 general elections will not significantly affect the party's fortunes or the elections generally.

According to him, the crucial factor at play going into the elections is the economic challenges currently faced by the country.

Speaking on JoyNews' Newsfile, Mr Acheampong stated that "the economic issue that we are dealing with plays a much bigger role”.

Nonetheless, he emphasised that the NPP should prioritise the opinions of Ghanaians over those of party executives since it is the Ghanaian electorate that will ultimately vote.

Mr Acheampong highlighted the fact that the party executives who are believed to have favoured Energy Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh are only a subset of the Ghanaian population.

He also considered as an abuse of office the state agency's involvement in internal political party polls calling it an abuse of office.

According to the supposed survey by the National Intelligence Bureau, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh is widely preferred among party members to be the running mate to Dr Mahamadu Bawumia.
The survey engaged 5,116 NPP delegates nationwide, including national, regional, constituency, and polling station executives.

According to the study, Dr Opoku Prempeh secured 76.2% of the responses from executives polled.

Following him was the Minister of Education and MP for the Bosomtwe, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, who garnered 10.16%.

Speaking to the issue, Mr Acheampong noted that if the party desires to conduct a poll, there are numerous organisations capable of assisting them.

The CDD Fellow also mentioned that while some argue similar polls have been conducted in the past, conducting polls is not within the mandate of the NIB.

“If you look at the mandate of the NIB via-a-vis what has actually been done here, I struggle to reconcile the two. What is the national security interest in all of these in terms of this polling?."

North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was the first to condemn the NIB's alleged involvement in the survey, threatening to drag the National Security Minister before parliament to explain why state resources could be used for such a purpose.