Democracy becomes a sham when the views of people, especially the ordinary people,e are not counted. When the grassroots and ordinary people who form part of the superstructure lose their voice and say, as a result of manipulation by the privileged few. This tendency defeats in all uncertain terms the very essence of democracy and the fair representation it seeks to propagate.

We in the NPP, after about ten months in opposition, are crying foul at skewed democracy and oppression of the NDC government. We have called them out on several issues that seek to suggest that Democracy has been thrown into the bottomless chasm.

We cannot be seen to be preaching virtue and practising vice; in that, the recent North Eastern Regional Tour of Hon. Ohene Agyapong Kennedy, many disturbing allegations which go to the core fabric of our party have been realised. In three separate virally circulated audio-visual recordings, some delegates are seen confessing to voting for Ohene Agyapong Kennedy in the November 2023 poll in their various polling stations, and yet at the close of the poll, the candidate recorded zero votes.

In Bunkprugu Constituency, while candidate Ohene Agyapong Kennedy held a meeting with the NPP delegates in the constituency on the 22nd October 2025. A delegate presented an audio-visual proof to the candidate showing he voted for the candidate during the November 2023 election; however, the candidate recorded zero. From the video evidence, the vote was not a spoiled ballot but was allegedly not counted.

Yagaba Kubori constituency was no exception in that there was prima facie evidence leading to the perception that many voted for the candidate, yet at the close of polls, the candidate recorded zero. As if that was not enough, in Walewale constituency, the home of one of the aspirants in the then and now elections, it has been widely alleged that votes accruing to Hon. Ohene Agyapong Kennedy were disregarded and not counted, leading to the candidate again scoring zero votes.

Let me hasten to ask rhetorically, are the various zero recorded votes in the several polling stations interestingly across only the North Eastern region to mean that candidate Ohene Agyapong Kennedy did not even have an agent at those polling stations?

The American civil rights leader and clergyman Dr Martin Luther King, once said, “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends”. The seemingly deafening silence of the party and the electoral body in charge of the then and now elections, especially in the face of these allegations amidst its oppressive tendencies, is so defeating of the democratic and freedom type of party the NPP seeks to arrogate unto itself.

In our humble opinion, the national executive committee and for that matter the electoral committee must investigate and ventilate those allegations especially amidst the recent controversial public pronouncements of Mr. Kwame Baffoe Abronyeh and Mr. Benard Antwi Boasiako Bono East and Ashanti Regional chairman of the Npp respectively; where they have been alleged to have meant that they will subvert the will of the people by their own power during the 31st January elections next year.

The Npp is not only at the crossroads on 31st January 2026 but also tipping to a very fragmented party if care is not taken. Matters that concern free, fair, and transparent elections must not be seen to have been done but must actually be done right. A flagbearer ship election of this kind produced Mr Alan Kyerematen’s splinter of very fine NPP stalwarts who have become an albatross on the neck of our party’s fortunes. Any act or omission before and during the upcoming presidential primaries that smacks of unfairness, repression, unnecessary abuse, intimidation, voter manipulation and undue competitive advantage, etc, will further dwindle the party’s already bleak chances in the run-up to the 2028 elections and beyond.

We are confident that in fidelity to the forebears and ideals of the spirit and development in freedom, those who again enjoy the people’s mandate (at least for now) to ensure a credible, free, fair and trusted electoral processes will not let us down on 31st January 2026 and will as well ventilate the relevant allegations that are gradually creeping to undermine the neutrality of the referees of elections in the Npp.

OAK

OPPOSITION AGAINST KLEPTOCRACY………………….

Stephen Luke Dapaah