The 2024 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has discounted claims that religion and ethnicity caused his electoral defeat in the 2024 Election.
“Some people said that they didn’t vote for us because our presidential candidate was a Muslim. Have you not heard that? …When I heard that, I said this doesn’t make sense. This is not the Ghana that I know,” Dr Bawumia remarked.
Dr Bawumia said those allegations were not only unfounded but also contradicted both party dynamics and post-election research findings and thus described those claims as mere propaganda.
Former Vice President Bawumia made these remarks during his engagement with the NPP officers and staff at the Party’s headquarters at Asylum Down in Accra, ahead of his nationwide “Thank You” tour.
Dr Bawumia pointed out that during the NPP’s internal presidential primaries, he was the only Muslim among 10 aspirants—nine of whom were Christians—yet he emerged as the Party’s choice for the presidential slot.
“So, I being a Muslim could not be the case for the Party’s loss in the polls,” he argued.
He added: “I decided to do some data analysis to test this hypothesis. And when you look at the data, it is very clear. In many constituencies across the country, the NPP presidential candidate performed better than the Christian parliamentary candidates.
“For example, in the Assin South Constituency in the Central Region where my good friend Rev. Ntim Fordjour contested—he is a Reverend Father—but I did better than him in his constituency. He did so well and mobilised the votes for me and I thank him very much,” Dr Bawumia added.
The 2024 NPP Flagbearer noted that if religion were the factor for voting, he should not be performing better than many of the party’s Christian parliamentary candidates.
“So, as a party and country, I’m very happy that religion and tribe have not entered our political discourse.
“We should therefore not allow people to play propaganda with religion and tribe. We are one nation. We will all live together whether we are Muslims or Christians; we will all work together for the good of this country,” Dr Bawumia emphasised.
Commenting on the tour, Dr Bawumia said, unlike the previous tours where the Presidential Candidate alone went, he would embark on the exercise with the Party and invited all the Presidential aspirants in the NPP Presidential Primaries to join the tour as a sign of unity in the party.
The NPP’s Thank You tour will begin from the Western Region on Saturday, April 26,2025 and end in the Central Region.
It is expected to bring together party faithful across the regions as part of efforts to reflect, rebuild, and reposition the party ahead of future elections.
