Arrogance of power, E-Levy, DDEP contributed to our loss in 2024 – Bawumia

The 2024 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has attributed the party’s defeat in the 2024 general elections to several factors, including the arrogance of power, the high cost of living, the failure to reshuffle government officials, the introduction of the E-Levy, and the controversial haircut policy.

According to him, these challenges left many Ghanaians struggling, particularly amid the IMF debt restructuring programme.

Dr. Bawumia made these remarks at the auditorium of Takoradi Technical University during the launch of his nationwide Thank You Tour.

Addressing claims that blamed the party’s defeat solely on his perceived religious affiliations, Dr. Bawumia emphasized that internal divisions and numerous uncompleted projects also contributed significantly to the NPP’s loss.

“When you study all the reports we have so far, certain factors were highlighted. These include the high cost of living; the prices of goods and services went up and left many Ghanaians struggling. Another factor that was highlighted is the arrogance of power, we were not willing to listen.

“The party members told us to conduct a reshuffle, but after eight years we didn’t listen. The party members told us they didn’t want E-levy, but we implemented it. Again, the party members told us that the DDEP was going to be a major challenge but we went ahead to implement it.

“Things were bad, and we were not able to pay NABCO, those employed under youth and afforestation, caterers and others were also not being paid,” he explained.

Dr. Bawumia also cited a lack of effective campaigning in key regions, saying, “Even in the regions that give us some vote, we didn’t put in a lot of work there. Western Region is an example.”

He further stressed that internal disunity weakened the party’s campaign efforts, allowing the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to exploit their mistakes.

“So, going into the 2024 general election, the NPP as a party was not fully united. The opposition at the time, the NDC, even though didn’t have a campaign message, was playing back our language against each other back to us. That is why it is important that as we go about with our campaign, you don’t bring down your opponent so that you can win,” he stated.