…Questions Citi/FM Reporter “Did Bawumia the northerner bring the northern votes?”
A viral video of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) running mate for the 2024 general election, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO), has emerged with him tongue-lashing a Citi TV/FM journalist, Umaru Sanda Amadu, during an interview for being asked why he failed to deliver the Ashanti votes for the NPP in the just-ended elections.
The ex-Minister of Energy, quickly dismissed the question as provocative which could elicit an insult, saying it had a tribal undertone comparing it to asking whether Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP’s 2024 presidential candidate and a northerner, also delivered the northern votes.
“Did Bawumia the northerner bring the northern votes? You can’t ask a question that doesn’t make sense”, Dr Opoku Prempeh, told Umaru Sanda Amadu, who together with Kafui Dey of Ghana Television (GTV) were interviewing him in Parliament hours before the dissolution of the 8th Parliament on January 6, 2025.
NAPO, who was hyped ahead of the 2024 elections as the solution to the NPP’s dwindling fortune in the Ashanti Region, argued that low voter turnout and poor party performances are nationwide issues, not regional or tribal ones. This he further argued is not limited to just the NPP, but the National Democratic Congress (NDC) too.
“No matter who you blame, the party has lost” said NAPO.
“You haven’t brought the Ashanti votes though,” Umaru said, prompting an intense response from NAPO.
The Minister expressed frustration with the narrative, describing it as tribally divisive and unfounded.
I hope you never ask that question again, because it might provoke someone to insult you. The whole country didn’t vote. We lost 2.1 million votes. Can it be for Ashanti? When I hear somebody say that, I feel really that I have to insult the person. Ashanti didn’t vote. What does that mean? Did Volta Region bring the votes?
Go and check NDC votes in 2016 and 2020 and 2024… and look at the votes. Even in Greater Accra. Mahama lost votes. 5% votes compared to the last election. Do not get on that…that doesn’t make sense. Insulting tribes and people. If you disagree with that people will say that NDC is not helping Voltarian, is slippery slope we are setting this country”.
He noted that voter turnout in the Ashanti Region, a traditional NPP stronghold, was 65% higher than the national turnout of 60.4%, adding that his party’s votes decline in 2024, a loss of 2.1 million votes, was a nationwide phenomenon, not peculiar to any one region.
“In fact, in Ashanti, 65% of the people turned up to vote. 65% person of the people on the register. There were four or five regions where the turnout was higher than Ashanti out of the 16 regions. The worst region of voter turnout was the Volta and Greater Accra Region; 46% or something. Let’s not tribalize things like that; and to say, did Bawumia bring the Northern votes? You can’t ask a question that doesn’t make sense in the sense that the whole country, the votes didn’t come. NPP lost. Check 2020 NPP got 6.7 million votes. In 2024, NPP dropped their votes to 4.5 million. That is shared around the whole country. That 2.1 million loss is shared around the whole country. Ashanti region being probably at that time, the most populous region vote-wise, but people should understand for a long time, the highest region for NDC votes is in the Ashanti Region”.
“When I hear somebody say Ashanti didn’t bring votes, I feel like insulting the person. What does that mean? Did the Volta Region bring votes for the NDC? These questions tribalize our politics unnecessarily,” he said.
“When NDC say they have a World Bank, the highest votes is in Ashanti Region”, he stated
Dr. Prempeh urged Ghanaians to move away from tribalized political arguments, cautioning that such narratives set a dangerous precedent.
He stressed the importance of analyzing national voter patterns rather than attributing election results to specific regions or ethnic groups.
“The party didn’t choose me because I was Ashanti. Let’s not reduce serious political issues to tribal considerations,” he stated firmly. However, this is not the truth, as Dr. Bawumia, had narrowed his search for a running mate to an Asante and had names such as Osei Kyei Mensah–Bonsu (former majority leader for parliament), Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum (education minister), Frema Osei Opare (Chief of staff) and Apostle Opoku Onyinah (former church of Pentecost chairman).
Bryan Acheampong (minister for agric) and Naa Torshie Addo were the outliers (district assembly common. Fund administrator) hailing from the Eastern Region and Greater Accra Register respectively.
NAPO, was picked with the full endorsement of the Asantehene, Otumfour Osei Tutu II on the claim that he is an Asante royal from the Manhyia; the seat of the Asante Kingdom.
He also got another prominent endorsement from ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor. Who although in a wheelchair, was seen moving from the campaign rally to campaign marketing the Bawumia-NAPO ticket to the electorates.
However, the NDC achieved a significant victory, with former President John Dramani Mahama securing the presidency polling 56.55% of the vote, while Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP candidate, got 41%. Bawumia conceded defeat on December 8, 2024, long before the Electoral Commission’s official announcement.
The NDC’s triumph extended to parliamentary elections, where they secured a two-thirds majority of the nation’s 276 seats, marking a substantial shift in Ghana’s political landscape.
Voter turnout was 60.9%, a notable decrease from the 79% turnout in the 2020 election, indicating a decline in voter engagement during this electoral cycle.
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