Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party in the 2024 elections, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has strongly dispelled claims that the party’s electoral defeat was due to his religious background, describing such assertions as baseless and not grounded in data.
Speaking at the Launch of the party’s Thank You Tour at its Headquarters, Dr. Bawumia expressed disbelief at suggestions that his Muslim identity influenced the outcome of the polls, insisting it is not grounded in data.
According to him, the argument that voters rejected the NPP because the presidential candidate was Muslim “doesn’t makes sense” to him
“Have you not heard that? Didn’t you hear that? When I heard that, I said, this doesn’t make sense. This is not the Ghana that I know,” he added.
Dr. Bawumia recalled the NPP’s presidential primaries, where out of ten candidates, nine Christians and one Muslim, delegates overwhelmingly gave him a 61.4% votes, the sole Muslim contender, to lead the party into the national elections. He called the “Muslim identity” factor into question, juxtaposing it to his victory in the party’s primaries
“If religion was truly a barrier, I wouldn’t have won the primaries. The party had options. They chose me not because of my religion, but because of my track record and what I stand for,” he emphasized.
He cautioned party members and analysts against attributing the party’s loss to religious factors, calling instead for a data-driven review of campaign strategies and electoral dynamics.
“We need to look at the real factors, campaign strategy, economic concerns, voter engagement, things that can actually be measured and addressed. That’s how we learn and move forward,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia reaffirmed Ghana’s long-standing culture of religious tolerance and urged all stakeholders to focus on unifying the nation rather than sowing seeds of division.