The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is wasting precious time with its nationwide Thank You Tour when urgent internal matters demand attention, a political science lecturer has said.

Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Political Science Department, said the party should rather focus on healing divisions created during its recent internal contests.

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” he said bluntly on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday.

“We have more pressing issues that I would have thought the party will spend more time looking at in detail.”

He pointed to the tensions and factionalism that marred the NPP’s parliamentary and presidential primaries.

“We saw the bickering and the rancour that characterised the party’s parliamentary and presidential primaries, and it fed into the whole electoral process,” Dr. Asah-Asante said.

“You cannot discount this.”

He warned that the internal wounds are still fresh and need urgent healing before the next general elections.

“This is something that lingers on within the political space,” he said.

“I thought that this is an opportune time for them to look at it, deal with it, so that people who are aggrieved, who are disenchanted, you can get them back.”

He named individuals like former party executives Dr. Amoako Baah and Paul Afoko as examples of those who feel alienated.

“These are matters that the party needs to deal with at home,” Dr. Asah-Asante stressed.

He argued that the Thank You Tour could have been easily replaced with a simple gesture that would not divert attention from critical party work.

“They could have saved us from the situation with a press release,” he suggested.

“And then you go into these specific ones that are really rearing their ugly heads into the whole political business within the party and creating all manner of problems.”

“For me,” he concluded, “the tour is a waste of time.”