Works and Housing Minster and Member of Parliament for Ofoase/Ayirebi in the Eastern Region, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on Ghana’s political class to listen more attentively to citizens, emphasizing that power ultimately resides with the people.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews, Mr Oppong Nkrumah highlighted the critical role of public accountability, warning that the electorate holds the power to decide the fate of political leaders at the end of their four-year mandate.

“The political class has to listen a lot more to the Ghanaian public. The power rests with the people. They give us that power for four years, and they will hold you accountable at the end of the four years. Listen a lot more to the people who employ us, the people who you work for in there and it is how you deal with the issues," he said.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah’s remarks follow significant losses for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in parliamentary elections, with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) securing a majority in the 9th Parliament.

Although yet to be officially confirmed, provisional shows that the party also lost massively in the presidential election.

While he retained his Ofoase/Ayirebi seat with 58.1% of the vote, he noted a worrying drop in voter turnout and party support.

He attributed the decline to apathy among party supporters, driven by dissatisfaction with party management and internal processes.

“Across the country, we found instances of people refusing to vote—some even at polling stations, they were angry or disappointed, and others said they wouldn’t vote unless we gave them money. These sentiments align with the broader story nationwide,” he explained.

The Works and Housing Minister also pointed to a “wind of change” sweeping across Ghana, significantly affecting the NPP’s performance. Despite these challenges, he said his campaign team managed to achieve a notable margin of victory in Ofoase/Ayirebi by identifying and addressing voter concerns.

He added that addressing these grievances would require the party to embrace feedback and make necessary adjustments to improve governance and party relations with the electorate.

"I think that we need to encourage a culture of internal disagreements without those who disagree being treated as, for want of a better expression, eternal enemies".