Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirant Dr Arthur Kennedy has blamed former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s governance record for the party’s defeat in the 2024 general election, describing him as a bad president despite his political and campaigning skills.
He argued that the NPP lost power because Ghanaians were dissatisfied with eight years of its administration, insisting that the party must confront its governance failures if it hopes to regain power in 2028.
“The NPP did not lose 2024 because they didn’t have enough mature men. The fact of the matter is that they didn’t have enough votes because they spent eight years governing badly and people were unhappy,” he said.
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Speaking on TV3’s The Key Points show on Saturday, Dr. Arthur Kennedy estimated that 1.25 million NPP supporters voted for President John Dramani Mahama, which he argued should be a major concern for the party.
According to him, the present priority should be understanding why those voters abandoned the NPP.
Dr Kennedy also suggested that millions of eligible voters might have stayed away from the polls, warning that the development reflected wider dissatisfaction with Ghana’s major political parties.
He dismissed the suggestion that promoting and highlighting Akufo-Addo’s record would automatically help the NPP return to power.
He said, “I have no problem with Nana Addo as a person. He’s an excellent politician. He campaigns very well. I worked with him. He can read a speech better than virtually every politician in Ghana’s history except Nkrumah,” he said. “But he was a bad president,” he added.
Dr Kennedy urged the NPP to focus on the future rather than make Akufo-Addo the face of its campaign ahead of the 2028 elections.
He said the NPP needs to examine the decisions and policies that contributed to its electoral defeat instead of relying on claims about the previous administration’s achievements.
Dr Kennedy also questioned the implementation of Agenda 111, the former government’s flagship hospital infrastructure programme, arguing that the party needed to explain why the initiative had not delivered its intended results.
He criticised the National Cathedral project, questioning the priorities of the previous administration amid other pressing development needs.
“We should be asking serious questions about what happened with Agenda 111, why he was building a cathedral while churches were building schools in his country,” he said.
He also raised concerns about unfinished infrastructure projects, including the Krofrom Market in the Ashanti Region and the Afari Military Hospital.
Dr Arthur Kennedy also called for greater scrutiny of COVID-19-related expenditure, arguing that accountability efforts should focus on those who exercised the highest levels of authority.
“We shouldn’t be worrying about people like Ken Ofori-Atta. We should be asking the big man questions and stop worrying about the small fry,” he said.
Dr Kennedy maintained that the party must identify the reasons supporters switched allegiance or stayed away from the polls and develop credible policies to address their concerns.