Who manages the Bawumia campaign? The list narrows to three

The vice-president of the Republic of Ghana and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, is expected to name his campaign team by Monday 12 February, a senior aide has disclosed exclusively to Asaase News.

This will come after his scheduled address to the Ghanaian people on Wednesday (7 February).

Dr Bawumia’s speech is expected effectively to set the party into campaign mode. He is expected to set out the achievements of the ruling party over two terms under President Nana Akufo-Addo and also to lay out his own vision for Ghana as he offers himself to be elected as the sixth president of the Fourth Republic in December 2024.

Asaase News sources indicate that the list of those under consideration to lead the campaign team has narrowed down to three well-known personalities in the NPP.

They include Dan Botwe, who served as the general secretary of the NPP when the party first won power in 2000 and again in 2004, under President John Agyekum Kufuor. He is also the MP for Okere, in the Eastern Region, and the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGRD).

Botwe has been one of the NPP’s key strategists for more than 25 years and commands respect among the rank and file. He will be leaving Parliament after 2024.

Also high on the list is Peter Mac Manu, a former national chairman of the NPP and two-time campaign manager for President Akufo-Addo in the successful 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Like Botwe, Mac Manu has institutional memory and has been a key member of national campaigns for over two decades now, first as Western Regional chairman of the party.

The third leading name for consideration is Kwabena Agyei Agyepong. A two-time presidential aspirant in his own right (for the elections in 2008 and 2024) and former general secretary of the NPP who served as presidential spokesman under John Agyekum Kufuor, he was also a campaign manager for Nana Akufo-Addo’s first presidential primary in 1998.

Agyepong has been a keen follower of Candidate Bawumia since August 2023 and is expected to play a major role in the party’s bid to win a record third straight term in office.

Strategic role

“Team Bawumia” is expected to be announced with some political heavyweights and dynamic individuals in the mix.

Already the activities of some of these key personalities have been felt in the campaign. The leading figures include Nana Akomea, Fred Oware, Dr Murtula Alolo, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Joe Anokye, John Boadu, Dr Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko, Sammi Awuku, Anthony Karbo, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, Krobea Asante and Opare Ansah.

The campaign manager will be expected to lead the entire team. When choosing a campaign manager, the NPP tends to look out for someone who knows the party, commands the respect of the party, has experience in previous campaigns, and is not encumbered by responsibilities such as being an MP or a government appointee holding an executive position.

To this end, the role of campaign manager typically goes only to a “True Blue”, as it will entail directing the candidate’s overall campaign with a firm hand, birthing a strategy that will propel Bawumia to victory in the 7 December presidential and parliamentary elections.

Botwe

Dan Botwe, the first of the three potential candidates shortlisted, may be put forward for the role of campaign manager to Bawumia, having served as the NPP general secretary and a campaign strategist to the party in 2016 and 2020, when Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ran for the presidency. He has a wealth of experience that will serve Team Bawumia well.

During President Akufo-Addo’s first term in office, Botwe served as the minister for regional reorganisation and development. He supervised the creation of six regions in addition to the then ten when the government came into office. The new regions are Ahafo, Bono East, Oti, North East, Savannah and Western North.

In Akufo-Addo’s second term, Botwe moved to serve in cabinet in the position of Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, a portfolio that has seen him working directly with the grass roots, both in the NPP and at the local government level.

Those advocating for Botwe to be named as campaign manager argue that the last two roles he has played, together with his previous positions in the NPP and government, give him the upper hand over the other two NPP stalwarts shortlisted for the role.

If Dan Botwe gets the nod to be the campaign manager, he will be expected to resign from office as the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development to concentrate fully on the campaign.

Mac Manu

Another likely candidate for the role of campaign manager is Peter Mac Manu. After serving as the NPP national chairman, he assumed the role of campaign manager to President Akufo-Addo in December 2016 and December 2020, winning both of those elections for the party.

Those who support Mac Manu’s appointment as campaign manager say that he is a safe pair of hands with a fine track record to whom to entrust the campaign.

On the flip side, others suggest that he may have had great success in the past but may not be a good fit for the campaign role today, given the present challenges and the level of energy required to prosecute this crucial campaign facing the NPP.

Agyepong

Kwabena Agyepong, a leading sports commentator in a previous life, is very well known for his eloquence and his command of both English and many local Ghanaian languages.

Even though he was a member of Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaigns in 2012 and 2020, he has never served in any official role during Akufo-Addo’s presidency.

In 2010 and 2023, he stood in the NPP presidential primaries but failed to win. Some well-meaning NPP supporters believe that he has been punished enough for the party’s internal crisis of 2015, which led to his suspension together with the then NPP national chairman and second vice-chairman.

They argue that it is time to leverage on Agyepong’s strengths and capabilities to promote the Bawumia candidacy as well as to tackle apathy in the NPP.

The task ahead

There is a clear and present danger ahead of the ruling NPP in the party’s quest to win a third successive term in office, a feat no political party has yet realised under the Fourth Republican constitution. To achieve this, the NPP ought to have a clear vision and plan to mobilise and energise the party base to turn up in their numbers to vote.

The party also needs a campaign manager who can appeal to supporters whose enthusiasm for the party has waned, persuading them to overlook the difficulties and challenges that have bedevilled the party while in office in the past seven years and step out to vote for the NPP so that it retains power.

Thus, the campaign manager must be someone who can command respect at all levels of the party, who can quickly master the job of putting the NPP’s presidential candidate above all others who may be contesting the 7 December election and get the job done.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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