"He's Not Fit for Purpose": NDC’s Gbande Claims NPP Will Change Bawumia Before 2028 Election

• Mustapha Gbande, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, has claimed that the NPP will replace Bawumia as flagbearer after its 2027 congress
• The NDC deputy chief questioned why the NPP elected a flagbearer before party executives
• Gbande argued the NPP failed the Ashanti Region and mismanaged Ghana’s cocoa sector

The Deputy General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has stirred controversy after making wild claims about the newly elected presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Reacting to the just-ended presidential primary of the NPP, Gbande claimed the candidate the opposition elected is not "fit for purpose."

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As a result, Gbande said he believes the NPP will replace Dr Bawumia after holding its National Delegates Congress in 2027.

Speaking to Adom FM on Monday, February 2, 2026, Mustapha Gbande, who also serves as Deputy Director of Operations at the Jubilee House, suggested that the NPP would be in disarray, leading to a change of presidential candidate after the congress.

“I’m looking to December, in a year’s time. By the time the NPP return from their national congress, they will elect another flagbearer. Mark it today,” he said.

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Gbande questions NPP's reorganisation strategy

He further questioned the NPP's decision to elect a flagbearer before choosing its executives at various levels of the party.

“You reorganise from branches to constituency, then regional, and by the time you reach national, the people would have recovered. Instead, you’ve done it top-down and elected a flagbearer who is not fit for purpose. By the time you elect your party executives and reorganise, they would have come to one conclusion, that they must change the flagbearer,” he said.

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Gbande also criticised the NPP for allegedly neglecting its grassroots and political stronghold, the Ashanti Region, during its time in power from 2017 to 2025.

He claimed the party's appointees were more focused on looting state resources than addressing the needs of their constituents.

“You start by reorganising from the base, then take responsibility and apologise for your wrongs, in the Ashanti Region, where many of your ministers came from, and which is your stronghold. The political tradition of the NPP is rooted in the Ashanti Region,” he stated.

“That today, the cocoa sector in the Ashanti Region has collapsed due to your mismanagement. That the NPP, in eight years, couldn’t build a single factory in the Ashanti Region. You go there, apologise, and show good behaviour,” he added.

Bawumia wins NPP presidential primary

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia secured 56.48 per cent to become the New Patriotic Party's presidential flagbearer for the 2028 election.

Kennedy Agyapong and Dr Bryan Acheampong followed Bawumia with 23.8 per cent and 18.5 per cent of votes, respectively.

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Bawumia had been tipped to win the primary, according to the final poll and prediction released by Global InfoAnalytics.

Kennedy Agyapong conceded defeat and called for unity ahead of the 2028 elections.

Proofreading by Samuel Gitonga, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh