I recently read a post by Dr Nana Ayew Afriye, Member of Parliament and one of the prominent generals of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s successful January 2026 presidential primary campaign.

In the contest for Ashanti Regional Chairman, Dr Ayew Afriye openly supported Dr Henry Kokofu against the established favourite, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, popularly known as COKA.

Ordinarily, there would be nothing remarkable about this. Even political generals are entitled to choose the horses on which they wish to lose their bets.

The complication was that Dr Ayew Afriye’s prominence within the Bawumia campaign made it easy for Kokofu’s candidacy to be presented as a DMB project. Fortunately for Dr Bawumia, his 2024 running mate, Dr Matthew “Napo” Opoku Prempeh, was a principal pillar behind COKA.

Thus, while some “handlers” were busy issuing presumed endorsements in Bawumia’s name, his own 2024 running mate was standing firmly on the other side.

Political endorsements have become like Ghanaian weather forecasts: confidently announced, locally interpreted and frequently contradicted by events.

Similar efforts were made elsewhere. In the Eastern Region, the Regional Coordinator of Bawumia’s January primaries campaign lost his chairmanship bid but to a popular, affable incumbent with backing, evidently more formidable than Sammi Awuku’s.

In Greater Accra, some key figures in directing operations for Dr Bawumia, such as Mohammed Adjei Sowah, presented their preferred candidate who also lost his chairmanship bid. Since these figures were closely associated with Dr Bawumia, the defeats were quickly interpreted, not entirely fairly, as a collective slap in the face of the presidential candidate.

Dr Ayew Afriye then committed the cardinal political error of responding emotionally to a personal defeat that required silence. He posted:

“ASHANTI REMAINS DMB @ THE CONSTITUENCIES. LET’S RESPECT THEIR CHOICES. IT’S NOT HATE!!! TAKE IT OR LEAVE [IT] DMB IS THE DEAL!!!”

If Facebook’s “What’s on your mind?” box ever needed a compulsory cooling-off period, this was the evidence.

The post achieved two unnecessary things. First, it strengthened the false impression that Dr Bawumia had somehow lost control of the party’s most important electoral base, Ashanti Region.

Second, it created the bizarre suggestion that the leadership of the NPP remained unsettled, as though the January 2026 presidential primary had been merely an opinion poll and another contest was still hiding behind the curtains to determine who leads the opposition party’s presidential bid.

DMB is the 2028 presidential candidate of the NPP. That matter is settled. There is no vacancy, no ambiguity and no need to keep proving it every Tuesday morning in capital letters.

But the episode points to a larger lesson, neatly captured by Napo during his own period of frustration with those he called, ‘DMB’s handlers’: “people must be voted for based on their capabilities, not merely on whom they are associated with.”

The NPP made a historic and strategically sensible decision. For the first time in its Fourth Republican history, it elected its presidential candidate before beginning the long reorganisation of the party, from polling stations through electoral areas, constituencies and regions to the national executive elections scheduled for 3 October.

The logic was straightforward. Elect the presidential candidate first, so that presidential aspirants could not sponsor executive candidates across the country as advance-payment delegates for a future primary.

Having decisively chosen Dr Bawumia, the party could then concentrate on selecting the people delegates believe are best equipped to help him win the 2028 general election.

That means choosing organisers, mobilisers and leaders, not merely professional praise-singers who behave as though they love Dr Bawumia more than his mother, wife and children combined.

Loyalty matters. But loyalty without competence can be merely enthusiastic liability. What the NPP needs now are men and women who are absolutely loyal to the party and its fortunes, and have what it takes to help Bawumia and his parliamentary candidates secure victory in less than 28 months time.

For those more loyal than Samira, bigger rewards await you after power has been secured. First, the candidate and party must assemble the people capable of securing it.

This is particularly important because Dr Bawumia did not win 80 or 90 per cent of the presidential primary vote. More than 43 per cent of delegates voted for other candidates.

To disregard them, or those who supported him quietly without converting their WhatsApp profiles into campaign billboards, would be to discard a large reservoir of talent merely because its members did not shout loudly enough.

The regional election results were therefore not a rebellion against Dr Bawumia. They were a message to him:

“Doctor, we voted for you because we trust you to deliver. Now trust us to choose the people we believe can help you win.”

That was the clearest verdict from the constituency and regional elections. Delegates were not rejecting the presidential candidate. They were rejecting the idea that every friend, aide, supporter or self-appointed handler of the presidential candidate must automatically become a kingmaker or, worse, a local king.

The same message may well be repeated at the national conference in October. The party will resist candidates it believes could become obstacles on the road to victory, however frequently they invoke DMB’s name.

Delegates appear to be telling the so-called handlers something remarkably simple: trust the process and kindly stop attaching the flagbearer’s name to every internal contest as though it were an official campaign logo.

The NPP is in a strong position. It is the first major party out of the starting blocks for 2028. Its presidential candidate is settled. Its grassroots reorganisation is almost complete. Its delegates are demonstrating independence, political maturity and a clear appetite for choosing those they have confidence in.

With unity, organisational discipline and confidence in its own members, pushing a message that resonates with the people, the party can rebuild public trust and return to power.

But first, its handlers must learn the difference between supporting Dr Bawumia and attempting to think for the entire NPP in his name.

By Dr Kofi Omintinmmminim Apesemaka