The Ashanti Regional New Patriotic Party Chairmanship race is attracting many eyeballs. It promises to be very interesting.

The party in the region has undergone some undulating phases ahead of this election.

Chairman Wuntumi, Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, Former Asokwa NPP constituency chairman Asare Bediako and Former Ejisu MP Kwabena Owusu Aduomi are contesting the seat.

But among, the camps of both Chairman Wuntumi and Chairman COKA, seem to have made the most impact obviously because of their credentials.

Main contender and aspirant, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, has said his vision for the party for which he is contesting is to unify the party in the region again and strengthen the internal structures.

He observes some party persons and supporters because of the pending elections are engaging in activities that could divide the party.

Mr Kwaku Appiah in a press briefing earlier today revealed his motive displayed in his engagement and activities leading to the elections is to unify the party.

“…now as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, those who accept politics of "Anything Goes", he continued that, “…Let me say to them, there is only one NPP, that is what I am fighting for, unified NPP.”

The campaign of the NPP has been to go a third term which has become known as BREAK-THE-EIGHT mantra.

Mr Kwaku Appiah reiterates his arsenals to help deliver this promise.

“The vote from Ashanti Region is important for our party, let’s not under estimate this, we need a strong, competent, confident, strategic and wise leader like myself to lead the region.

What unite us is bigger than what divide us, we are all working for one common goal, we have a party to manage and to protect to win power in 2024.”

Addressing Party Apathy

Apathy within the party has been a major concern worth addressing if the NPP wants to amass the needed polls in the next elections.

Mr Appiah observes apart from people working at the polling stations, those as coordinators, constituency officers and regional officers, there are several other people working outside these groups but within identifiable groups that do a lot of work but seem neglected.

According to him, such groups must be given their rightful places in the party and recognized.

“…We need to recognize all these groups and bring them together ahead of the 2024 elections.”

Another leg of his campaign is to strengthen the internal structures of the party.

Mr Appiah says if the structure of the party is not working, we see what is going on these days which has culminated in the grand scheme of apathy.

“ if the structures are working, there is discipline, transparency, each officer is accountable to the system and not people outside of the structures of the party.

We need to reposition the party and make it attractive ahead of 2024.

So, when we ensure that there is hope, that we are united for whoever become the flagbearer, there is teamwork and the structures of the party are working”

According to him, these will make the party attractive so that people will come out openly like they did in 2016, and that will address the apathy we are seeing within the party.

The Ashanti region NPP chairmanship race could perhaps be one of the fierce contests in this years’ regional elections.

Chairman Wuntumi

His major contender arguably is the incumbent, Benard Antwi Boasiako popularly known as Chairman Wuntumi, who is looking to win a third term.

In 2017 during the party’s extraordinary conference at Heroes Park in Kumasi, Wuntumi vowed to win all the parliamentary seats in the region for the party in the 2020 elections.

This, he couldn’t deliver.

He is on record to have even threatened to resign should the party fail to win all 47 seats in the 2020 elections.

In an interesting turn of event, Mr Wuntumi in an interview on Nhyira Fm on October 25 in 2021, said his pronouncement only sought to give party executives and sympathisers ‘morale’- as he described.

These, among other things have attracted reactions from some quarters of the party that describe this as deception and not a man of his words.

Coupled with the famous interview he had with Paul Adom Okyere where he displayed what is believed to be gold bars on live television, garnered some amount of disgust within the hierarchy of the party.

These, among others, weighs him down getting into the elections.

COKA

Meanwhile, Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah is a known name in the echelons of the party but perhaps new in the public space.

His political work started as political campaigner and became the chairman for Concern Citizen Association, pressing for development in Ashanti region and beyond.

He has been a Ward Organizer for Subin Constituency, as Government Appointee to Bekwai District Assembly, as Regional Financial Secretary for Ashanti Region under Chairman F. F. Fanto.

Until recently, he was the Constituency Chairman for NPP Afigya Kwabre South – a position he held for many years.

As a result of his leadership, he was voted many times as the Chairman of all the Constituency Chairmen in the Ashanti Region.

He is known as a grassroot person who understands the roots and dictates of the party.