Former Minister of Defence and Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul, has attributed voter apathy within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to internal allegations of corruption.
Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM on February 11, 2025, Nitiwul suggested that accusations of theft against government appointees from within the party itself led to disillusionment among supporters.
He compared the situation to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which, according to him, maintained strong internal unity.
“The opportunity that the NDC had was that they only had one candidate. All those that wanted to contest Mahama were just having a dress rehearsal for future elections, so, the party was very united from the ground to the top,” he said.
Nitiwul emphasized that the NDC, being out of government, did not have to deal with allegations of corruption within its ranks. This, he argued, gave them an advantage over the NPP, which faced damaging internal criticism.
“For somebody to say that they are stealing and all that, your own people in NPP come and tell you that they are stealing, that they are thieves, government appointees and all that what would you expect the person to do? To vote?” he questioned.
He further lamented the self-inflicted damage within the NPP following the elections.
“One year after elections, we have started destroying each other,” he remarked.
After close of polls of the 2024 general elections, the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa, on Monday, December 9, declared John Dramani Mahama of the NDC the winner, with a total of 6,328,397 votes.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia received 4,657,304 votes.
Mahama’s party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), achieved historic success by gaining a majority in Parliament.
AM/KA