Vice Chairman of the ‘Bawumia 2024 Campaign Team,’ Nana Akomea, has rejected suggestions by Kennedy Agyapong that religious bias played a role in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) defeat in the 2024 general elections.
In a strong rebuttal to recent comments made by the former Assin Central MP, Akomea described the assertion that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia lost the election because he is a Muslim as “untenable” and a “terrible mistake.”
Speaking in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Wednesday June 11, he warned against introducing religion into the party’s internal politics, arguing it risks alienating a significant section of the party’s support base.
“If you bring religion into this campaign, it is a terrible mistake, and what you are saying to the Muslims is that they do not have a stake in the party,” he cautioned.
Akomea emphasised that Bawumia’s performance in the 2024 elections cannot be attributed to religious discrimination.
“Dr. Bawumia did better in over 50 constituencies where the NPP candidates were Christians—about 54 or 55 constituencies—Dr. Bawumia did better than them,” he noted.
He further referenced findings from the party’s post-election review, led by the Ocquaye Committee, which he said did not identify religion as a key factor in the party’s electoral loss.
“That assertion that Bawumia lost or the NPP lost because the candidate was a Muslim is not even tenable, apart from it being such a dangerous campaign strategy,” Akomea reiterated.
Challenging the logic behind Agyapong’s remarks, Akomea questioned why, if religion was such a critical factor, Bawumia overwhelmingly won the NPP’s 2023 presidential primaries despite being the only Muslim among nine Christian candidates.
“In the two stages of the primaries—the super delegates and the main election with all the delegates—Bawumia won against multiple Christian candidates, including Kennedy Agyapong himself,” he pointed out.
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