NPP stalwart Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy, has issued a blistering critique of his party’s recent record in government, urging a radical overhaul of its internal democratic processes and a public apology to Ghanaians for what he described as “reckless and incompetent governance.”
Kennedy rejected calls within the party to fast-track the selection of a new presidential candidate, insisting that such a move would only mask unresolved cracks within the NPP’s structure during an appearance TV3’s KeyPoints programme.
“We should borrow from the American and Canadian systems,” he explained.
“Let every party member vote. You can’t bribe everybody in Bantama or Walewale. It will demonetise politics and make the party more accountable.”
He added that the key lesson from the NPP’s bruising 2020 electoral outcome was not to shrink democracy but to expand it.
“The lesson from 2020 is not to have less democracy but more,” he said.
“We must open up our primaries, apologise for our mistakes and stop pretending shortcuts will fix the rot.
The NPP is better than the party and government we saw in the last eight years — but we must prove it to the people.”
Dr. Kennedy, who has long been a vocal internal critic of the NPP, spared no words in assessing the party’s performance in government.
“We governed recklessly and incompetently. We failed Ghanaians, and we failed our tradition,” he said bluntly.
“The electorate punished us — and they were right. We’re not entitled to anyone’s votes. We must apologise and earn back trust through real reforms and good ideas.”
Instead, he advocated a bottom-up renewal of the party, starting with transparent and inclusive processes at the polling station level.
“Until we fix the cracks and face why we lost, electing a flagbearer now solves nothing,” he warned.
“We need to renew leadership all the way down — polling stations, constituency chairpersons, national executives — and only then choose a presidential candidate.”
