Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology political science lecturer Mr Kwasi Amakye-Boateng says that the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should stop crying foul and rather blame themselves for the party’s defeat in the just-ended general election. He said the NPP leadership lacked strategic planning, and that it was little surprise that the party lost. Speaking in an interview with Daily Graphic in Kumasi on Monday, Mr Amakye-Boateng said the party’s electoral machine did not possess the firepower to outdo the National Democratic Congress (NDC). “It is clear that the NPP needs a major shake up at leadership level if it wanted to recover its lost glory,” he stressed. He stated that it was clear the party leadership had lost touch with the political environment. “On the whole, I think the party needs to take a second look at its understanding of politics. “For instance, the NPP must start looking at how they relate to people who do not belong to their political tradition,” he stressed. Mr Amakye-Boateng accused the elite in the party of influencing the selection of the presidential candidate who “was not competitive,” Nana Akufo-Addo. He said that in light of Akufo-Addo’s defeat in the 2008 and 2012 elections, the NPP should now realize that he is not competitive. The political science lecturer said the fact that President Mahama carried some of the “garbage” associated with late President Mills into the elections and yet managed to win in the first round should indicate to the NPP that all is not well with them. For Mr Mahama to win the election one touch in spite of having limited time to campaign shows that the NDC were tactically superior to the NPP in electioneering. He said the defeat should be a wake-up call to the NPP that the Ghanaian voter cannot be taken for granted. Mr Amakye-Boateng suggested that in choosing national leaders in future, the NPP should look at people who do not come from their support base.