NPP delegates pick national officers in Kumasi on 3 October as chairman polls point different ways

Pinned summary · as of 04:20

Delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will elect the party's national officers in Kumasi on Saturday, 3 October 2026, and published opinion polling on the top job has split. A survey by Ghana Watch Initiative International favours former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, while a later poll released on 29 September puts former General Secretary John Boadu in front. Candidates and their backers have spent the past fortnight courting delegates with appeals about unity and preparing for the 2028 general election.

What we know

• The NPP has set Saturday, 3 October 2026 for its national officer elections, with Kumasi as the host city.
• Four men are contesting the National Chairman post: John Boadu, Boakye Agyarko, Paul Afoko and Sammy Crabbe. The contest comes as the party regroups after its 2024 election loss and looks towards 2028.
• A Ghana Watch Initiative International (GWII) survey, covered by both The Custodian and The Publisher Online, gave Mr Agyarko 51.81% nationally and a lead in 13 of the 16 regions. It drew on 2,098 responses from constituency-level party contacts and scaled that to roughly 3,710 of the 7,160 delegate votes.
• The same GWII survey placed Mr Boadu in second nationally, ahead in only Bono, Central and Savannah, and credited Mr Afoko with 12.39% and Mr Crabbe with 3.48%. It rated Mr Agyarko 4.2 out of 5 for integrity and concluded that the race was his to lose.
• Mr Boadu was the NPP's General Secretary until Justin Frimpong Kodua beat him for the job when the party's executives were elected in 2022.
• Dennis Kwakwa, the NPP's Ashanti Regional Organiser, told the party's Organisers' Forum that leaders and supporters must not trade the NPP's 2028 chances for personal favours from the governing National Democratic Congress. He said secret dealings with that party would not be accepted, and he alleged that some NPP figures had in the past shielded opponents from scrutiny.
• A Takoradi Technical University chapter of Patriotic Intellectuals Ghana came out for Mr Boadu, citing his party experience, his stress on unity and his links with grassroots members in the Western and Central regions, and asked delegates to back him.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  MyJoyOnline reported a poll from Feedback Africa and Prof. Smart Sarpong, a Kumasi Technical University academic, which put Mr Boadu on 46.5% of all respondents and 47.9% of delegates, against 24.8% and 26.2% for Mr Agyarko. It covered 9,882 people and ran from 10 to 28 September. It contradicts the GWII result carried by The Custodian and The Publisher Online, and no other report has verified either poll.
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  The Feedback Africa poll also named front-runners for other posts among delegates, including Justin Frimpong Kodua for General Secretary at 60% and Henry Nana Boakye for First Vice Chairman at 41.1%. Only MyJoyOnline carried these numbers, and it called the National Treasurer race the most open.
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  The Publisher Online reported that a University of Ghana lecturers' study gave Mr Agyarko 60.7% on which candidate best fits the chairman's role, with Mr Boadu on 33.5% and Mr Afoko on 5.9%. No other report carried the study.
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  The Publisher Online said the first-ballot winning mark is 3,581 votes and described the GWII result as pointing to an outright first-round win for Mr Agyarko. The Custodian did not report a threshold, and it noted that the GWII projections assume unsurveyed delegates think like those polled and that preferences could shift before voting.
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  Accounts differ on Mr Boadu's record of service as given by the Takoradi chapter: The New Crusading Guide said it spans about 30 years, whereas MyJoyOnline said it exceeds three decades.
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  Accounts also differ on Mr Crabbe's earlier party post. The Custodian called him a former NPP First Vice Chairman, while The Ghana Report described him as a former Greater Accra Regional Chairman who later became Second Vice Chairman.
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  The Ghana Report and Onua Online give different versions of Mr Afoko's campaign plan. The Ghana Report said it means reunite, restructure and restrengthen, while Onua Online said it is Reunite, Rebuild, Recapture Power.
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  The Ghana Report alone recounted that Mr Afoko won the party chairmanship in April 2014 and was suspended indefinitely in 2015 amid internal disputes, along with Kwabena Agyei Agyepong and Mr Crabbe, and that he challenged the suspension. It also said Mr Boadu was given charge of SIGA, the State Interests and Governance Authority, that December of 2023.
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  Henry Quartey, campaign manager for Mr Agyarko and a former Interior Minister, said the NPP needs a unifier and a fresh face, that age is no obstacle, and that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has not said he cannot work with Mr Agyarko. Only The Publisher Online carried these remarks.
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  The Custodian alone reported that NPP delegates in the Central Region voiced strong backing for Mr Agyarko, and that he called for reconciliation and better-resourced constituency and regional offices.
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  Onua Online alone reported that Mr Afoko, on a tour of the Western, Central and Eastern regions, told delegates the party had only two years left in opposition and that his plan would reunite the party and win back power.
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  Kumasi Mail alone reported that Mr Boadu said he supports NDC National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia for the presidency because of his experience.
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  Speaking through his campaign group Team JB, Mr Boadu pledged firmer defence of ballots, collation centres, members and property in 2028, and claimed that party candidates and backers were assaulted or obstructed in places like Okaikoi South, Nsawam Adoagyiri and Suhum in 2024. He also argued that ballot protection by party support groups breaks no law, the Anti-Vigilantism Act included. Kumasi Mail is the only publication that reported this.
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  Onua Online alone reported an APL research report that names former MP Nana Akomea as front-runner for First Vice National Chairman, 21.5 percentage points clear of rivals. The Feedback Africa poll, carried only by MyJoyOnline, instead put Henry Nana Boakye ahead for that post among delegates, at 41.1% against 11.1% for Mr Akomea.
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  Kumasi Mail alone reported a University of Ghana, Legon research team's survey of 889 party stakeholders on the General Secretary contest, in which 74.2% expected Eugene Boakye Antwi to win against 25.1% for the incumbent, Justin Frimpong Kodua. The researchers said the figures record expectations and are not a forecast. The Feedback Africa poll, reported only by MyJoyOnline, had Mr Kodua well ahead among delegates.

Why it matters for Ghana

The national chairman runs the machinery that selects candidates, raises money and mobilises voters, so the delegates' choice will shape how the NPP rebuilds in places such as Ashanti, the Western and Central regions and Greater Accra before 2028. Party members and constituency officers are being asked to judge the candidates partly on polls that disagree, and each poll was produced by a different group of researchers. The vote also tests how the party handles unity and its stance towards the ruling NDC after its recent defeat.