Pins 2024 Defeat on Bawumia’s Stingy Formulas and Ofori-Atta’s Empty Coffers
The New Patriotic Party’s finger-pointing fest has erupted into full-blown fratricide, with ex-District Assemblies Common Fund chief Irene Naa Torshie Addo delivering a withering broadside against her former overlords zeroing in on Mahamudu
Bawumia, Ken Ofori-Atta, and Mohammed Amin Adam Anteh as the architects of a half-hearted decentralization drive that starved local councils and handed the 2024 elections to the NDC on a platter.
Addo, pilloried by party heavyweights as the scapegoat for the Elephant’s electoral rout, struck back in a no-holds-barred interview, insisting her role was mere execution: faithfully disbursing whatever scraps the Bawumia-led Economic Management Team (EMT) and Parliament deigned to allocate.
“NPP never took decentralization seriously,” she charged, spotlighting the regime’s paltry 40-50% direct transfers to Metropolitan,
Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) a far cry from President John Dramani Mahama’s September overhaul, funneling 80% straight to districts and unlocking GH¢987.96 million in Q1 DACF under Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson.
The onslaught comes amid a barrage of internal recriminations. Greater Accra chair Divine Otoo Agorhom fingered Addo for the defeat, claiming her fund-withholding doomed grassroots efforts.
Ex-Ho MCE Divine Bosson lambasted her “autocratic and self-centered” reign, alleging she hoarded cash in reserves “like personal money,” gutting MMDAs’ project autonomy and breeding chaos.
Yaw Adomako Baafi, ex-NPP comms director, accused her of snatching allocations from Local Government Minister Dan Botwe and vowed to crush her rumored running-mate bid.
Addo, who ditched Bawumia’s camp for Ken Agyapong’s flagbearer tilt, dismissed the pile-on: Formulas were hammered out in exhaustive sessions with MMDA deans, regional ministers, MPs, the Chief of Staff, and finally the EMT which called the shots before Parliament’s nod.
“Why didn’t Bawumia, who schooled me on disbursements, demand 80%? Where were the NPP ‘intellectuals’ we boasted about?” she demanded, mocking the party’s superiority complex while praising the NDC’s bolder vision.
Funds flowed only when ministers released them, a statutory duty Ofori-Atta and Anteh flouted, sparking MP walkouts from Akufo-Addo’s addresses and State of the Nation gigs.
Her ire spills into the macroeconomic meltdown: With the cedi now steady at 12 to the dollar under NDC stewardship versus 17 under NPP, why scapegoat her for the regime’s failures? “Is it because I’m a woman in this male-chauvinist club, easy to poke in the eye?” Addo fumed, questioning if Bawumia Akufo-Addo’s imported “fixer” and his crew escape scrutiny for botching the economy they swore to master.
The underfunding saga, she argues, wasn’t her solo folly but a systemic neglect that alienated voters and empowered Mahama’s devolution surge.
As the NPP licks its wounds, Addo’s mutiny lays bare the party’s rot: A brain trust that preached progress but delivered crumbs, now devouring its own in a bid to rewrite history.
With Mahama’s reforms gaining traction, this infighting could hobble any 2028 comeback unless the Elephant confronts its decentralization delusion head-on.