– Gunfire, slaps, missing ballots as Bawumia’s grassroots strategy crumbles
By Philip Antoh
What was billed as a routine internal election to refresh the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) grassroots machinery has instead become a nationwide spectacle of violence, intimidation, and electoral sabotage.
From Ashanti to Volta, the weekend’s constituency executive polls were marred by gunshots, physical assaults, destruction of ballot materials, and mysterious deletions from voter registers raising urgent questions about the party’s capacity to govern itself, let alone the nation.
At the heart of the turmoil lies a bitter irony: the very “top-bottom” strategy engineered to consolidate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s grip on the party appears to have backfired spectacularly, with early returns suggesting that candidates aligned with the flagbearer suffered humiliating defeats.
This newspaper’s investigation reveals a party at war with itself, with the violence exposing not just factional rivalries but a systemic failure of internal democracy.
Ejura Sekyedumase East: Broadcaster Arrested After Leading Armed Mob
In the Ashanti Region, popular media personality Okatakyie Kwame Afrifa Mensah finds himself in police custody after allegedly orchestrating a violent disruption at the Wiamoase polling station. Police reports indicate that on Sunday morning, Afrifa Mensah led a group of approximately 30 men to the SDA Church polling centre, where they became aggressive upon being challenged by security personnel.
The group reportedly attacked officers, scattered electoral materials, and attempted to halt the process. Afrifa Mensah claimed he had secured an interlocutory injunction to stop the elections, citing the exclusion of his supporters. However, police confirmed that neither they nor the Electoral Commission had been served with any court order. Six others were arrested alongside the broadcaster, with two suspects including Afrifa Mensah subsequently admitted to a medical facility after complaining of illness.
Afigya Sekyere East: MP’s Father Caught on Camera Slapping Voter
In a shocking display of impunity, a video has emerged showing Nana Nkansah Boadu Ayeboafoh the father of incumbent MP Mavis Nkansah Boadu and Chief of Agric Nzema physically assaulting an innocent citizen during the electoral melee. The footage, which has gone viral, captures the traditional leader slapping a voter amid the chaos, raising serious questions about the conduct of party elites and traditional authorities in the political process.
Bantama: Heavily Built Men Destroy Ballot Materials
The Kumasi Cultural Centre in Bantama became a battleground on Saturday when heavily built party thugs stormed the venue, destroying Electoral Commission materials including ballot papers. The rampaging members claimed the exercise was illegal due to an interim injunction secured by aggrieved members Marcus James Kwadwo Osei, Paul Asare, and Enoch Ofori-Amanfo against the party’s regional and constituency leadership. One party member was injured in the melee and rushed to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for treatment.
Botianor Ngleshie Amanfrom: Over 200 Names Vanish from Register
In the Greater Accra Region, delegates in the Botianor Ngleshie Amanfrom Constituency discovered that approximately 205 names had been mysteriously deleted from the voters’ register a move widely condemned as a deliberate attempt to manipulate the outcome. Aggrieved delegates have accused constituency and regional executives of maliciously removing perceived rivals, leading to an interlocutory injunction that halted the election. The deletion was reportedly carried out without prior polling station elections, raising suspicions of a coordinated effort to rig the process.
Trobu: Two Ballot Papers Disappear, MP Demands IGP Interventioz
At the Trobu Constituency, angry voters expressed their fury after two ballot papers containing the chairman and secretary positions mysteriously vanished. The incident prompted Constituency MP Gloria Owusu to call for an immediate investigation by the Inspector General of Police, further underscoring the widespread lack of trust in the electoral process.
Reports from the Volta Region indicate that similar chaotic scenes unfolded across the area, confirming that the violence was not confined to the traditional NPP strongholds of Ashanti and Greater Accra. The regional breakdown suggests a party-wide crisis that threatens to spiral out of control.
Beyond the immediate violence, these elections have exposed a fundamental miscalculation by the party’s leadership. The controversial “top-bottom” strategy which involved amending the party’s constitution to elect the flagbearer before lower-tier executives was designed to smooth Dr Bawumia’s path to power. Instead, grassroots delegates appear to have used the constituency polls to punish the establishment.
Sources close to the party’s internal machinery reveal that candidates openly aligned with Bawumia suffered significant defeats across multiple constituencies. Political observers argue that this is a direct rejection of the leadership’s heavy-handed approach to internal democracy. “The grassroots feel disenfranchised,” one party insider told this newspaper. “They see the top-bottom strategy as an imposition, not an invitation.”
If these early results are indicative of a broader trend, the NPP leadership may be facing a rebellion from its own base a development that could have serious implications for the party’s electoral fortunes in the upcoming general elections.
NPP General Secretary Justin Frimpong Kodua has issued a statement condemning the violence and promising thorough investigations. He assured party members that severe sanctions would be applied to any executive or member found guilty of undermining internal democracy.
However, scepticism abounds. The party has a history of issuing strong statements without meaningful follow-through, and many are questioning whether the leadership has the will to act against its own loyalists.
The NPP’s constituency elections were meant to demonstrate the party’s readiness for the 2026 national polls. Instead, they have laid bare a party fractured by factionalism, burdened by a discredited electoral strategy, and incapable of policing its own members. As one aggrieved delegate put it: “If we cannot conduct free and fair elections within our own house, how can we be trusted to manage the affairs of the nation?”
With gunshots, slaps, and missing ballots dominating the headlines, the NPP’s “family affair” has become a public relations disaster and a stark warning that Ghana’s ruling party may be sleepwalking into a crisis of its own making.