NPP MP Raises Alarm, Calls for Strategic Rethink to Rescue the party
By Gifty Boateng
A Member of Parliament for the Old Tafo constituency in the Ashanti Region has sounded the alarm, suggesting that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is losing its grip on the youth in its traditional stronghold.
According to Vincent Ekow Assafua, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is making significant inroads with young, Gen-Z voters who are no longer swayed by historical narratives against the party.
Assafua, who has been dubbed “Low Budget Ablakwa” for his less-than-successful attempts to emulate Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, admitted that the decades-long campaign to brand the NDC as evil—largely due to the military coups and violence under its founder, the late Jerry John Rawlings—has lost its potency. He said this new generation of voters is politically savvy and not interested in a past that doesn’t directly affect their present.
A New Political Reality
Speaking on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, Assafua lamented that the hatred for the NDC has “vanished into thin air.” He noted that unlike in previous generations, young people on the streets of Kumasi are now openly declaring their support for the NDC without fear of backlash.
“You see, the times we were growing up in Kumasi, it was very difficult for a young man to declare that he is NDC,” he explained.
“The elders would bombard you with the atrocities of Rawlings, the barbaric killings of judges… so as you grew up, NDC was not attractive.
But now Rawlings is no more… The young people in this region, when I engage them, they have a lazy kind of attitude as though we care less. But those times you could see… hatred for the umbrella party.”
He warned that the NPP must urgently change its political strategy to win back these key voters. “It only tells us that as NPP, we have to change our style of politics and make sure that the demands of the young people are met,” he said.
Free SHS vs. ‘No-Fee Stress’: Which Policy Resonates?
The MP also offered a sharp analysis of two major policies: the NPP’s flagship Free Senior High School (Free SHS) and the NDC’s “No Fee Stress” policy for first-year public university students.
While acknowledging the benefits of Free SHS, Assafua argued that students do not appreciate it as much as the NDC’s policy.
He explained that because the “No Fee Stress” funds are paid directly into students’ accounts, they feel a personal connection to the benefit.
“Our mothers were the ones that saw the benefits of the Free SHS, but the young people who were supposed to… commend us because the money was not paid to them, they don’t really feel the benefit,” he said.
“But with the tertiary ones, the money is in the accounts of the students, so if you’re not a strict mother or father, he will keep it, they won’t give it to you.”
Assafua’s comments align with recent reports of students at hostels dancing to NDC campaign songs after receiving their payments, suggesting the policy is having a direct, positive impact on their perception of the party.
This stratgic tilt from the youth may have played a significant role in the NPP’s unprecedented defeat in the last election, where their votes in the Ashanti Region—a traditional stronghold—plummeted.
The party had initially blamed the loss on low voter turnout, but Assafua’s assessment suggests a more troubling reality: that these young voters may not have stayed home, but rather crossed over to the NDC.