Former Deputy Local Government Minister, Augustine Collins Ntim, has raised concerns about the growing use of tribal and religious sentiments in contemporary Ghanaian politics, particularly within the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Ntim, who currently chairs the Middle Belt Campaign Committee for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, argued that such divisive tendencies have no place in the NPP’s tradition.
Speaking during a door-to-door campaign to rally support for Dr. Bawumia’s re-election as the NPP’s 2028 presidential candidate, he emphasised that “There are people within the party moving around with the message that Christians did not vote for Dr. Bawumia during the 2024 elections because he is a Muslim. This is very alien in the NPP. We do not entertain such divisive pronouncements because every NPP member knows that the party does not segregate.
“In any case, post-2024 election reports never indicated that Dr. Bawumia lost the election because of his religious belief or tribe, so where is this coming from?”
Former Vice-President and 2024 flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has also cautioned party members against indulging in tribal and religious politics, warning that it could jeopardize the party’s chances of reclaiming power in 2028.
Addressing the NPP New York Chapter’s 33rd Anniversary celebration on Sunday, August 24, 2025, Dr. Bawumia urged members to move beyond the 2024 defeat and unite around vision, competence, and ideas rather than divisive propaganda.
He dismissed claims that his northern and Muslim background contributed to the party’s loss in 2024, describing them as baseless.
Dr. Bawumia said such narratives were “unbelievable and dangerous,” adding that they risked portraying the NPP as an exclusionary political tradition.
Earlier, NPP presidential aspirant Bryan Acheampong had argued that under both former President John Agyekum Kufuor and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the NPP secured votes from both the Kusasi and Mamprusi communities in Bawku.
According to him, the party’s decision to present Dr. Bawumia as its 2024 candidate was based on the belief that, as a member of one of the feuding groups, he would consolidate support from both ethnic sides. However, he claimed the strategy failed, leading to what he described as the NPP’s worst electoral defeat in its history.
