Kwasi Kwarteng, spokesperson for Kennedy Agyapong’s campaign in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer race, has argued in a Facebook post that second chances in presidential bids should be reserved for candidates with proven records of electoral growth, not those who have delivered poor results.

Kwarteng criticised what he described as the selective enforcement of the National Executive Committee’s directive to halt campaigning until after the Akwatia by-election. 

He claimed that while some candidates respected the mood of national mourning following the August 6 helicopter crash, others continued active campaigns in the Ashanti Region.

Kwarteng took aim at arguments likening Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s bid for a second run to those of former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, insisting that historical precedent favours only candidates who improved the party’s electoral standing. 

“In the NPP, the privilege of a second presidential bid has never been automatic. It is not a reward simply for showing up; it is a recognition earned through strong performance in the previous general election,” he wrote.

He cited statistics from past elections, noting that Professor Albert Adu Boahen, despite facing the political dominance of Jerry John Rawlings in 1992, secured 30.29 per cent of the vote; Kufuor improved the share to 39.67 per centin 1996; and Akufo-Addo raised it to 49.13 per cent in 2008, leading his opponent in the first round. 

In contrast, Kwarteng said, Dr Bawumia’s 2024 performance of 41.61 per cent represented a drop of over seven percentage points from Akufo-Addo’s debut and the “worst performance ever witnessed in the history of the Fourth Republic.”

“Only Dr Bawumia recorded a decline… making him the first NPP candidate in history to poll lower than his immediate predecessor on a first attempt,” he argued, adding that Prof Adu Boahen, a founding member, was denied a second chance despite his challenging circumstances.

Kwarteng stressed that the 2028 election “will not be about second-chance candidates” but about “a strong, credible and winnable candidate,” asserting that Kennedy Agyapong best fits that description. 

He warned that the opposition National Democratic Congress would work to consolidate its power and that the NPP “can’t afford to present a weak candidate.”