Divine Otoo Agorhom has accepted responsibility for the New Patriotic Party’s poor performance in Greater Accra, where its parliamentary representation fell from 21 seats in 2016 to only five after the 2024 general elections.
Mr Agorhom, who is stepping down as the party’s Greater Accra Regional Chairman, said the scale of the defeat meant he had to acknowledge his share of responsibility as the leader of the NPP’s regional structure.
He made the comments in an interview with Citi News during the delegates’ congress held to elect his successor. Mr Agorhom has served as regional chairman since 2018.
The NPP suffered a significant decline in Greater Accra at the 2024 general elections, losing 16 of the 21 parliamentary seats it held in the region in 2016. The result leaves the party with only five parliamentary representatives in an area that had previously been one of its stronger bases.
Mr Agorhom said the performance of the government had played a major part in the party’s defeat. However, he did not use that factor to avoid accountability, saying he was willing to accept responsibility for the result in his capacity as regional chairman.
He also warned that the person taking over the role would inherit a difficult task. According to Mr Agorhom, the new chairman will need to rebuild the party’s organisation in Greater Accra and work to restore unity among its members.
The challenge facing the NPP is not limited to recovering lost parliamentary support. The party must also bring together its regional membership and strengthen the base from which it hopes to regain public backing.
Despite the severity of the electoral setback, Mr Agorhom said he remained confident that the NPP could recover. He pointed to the turnout at the party’s recent “Democracy Under Attack” demonstration as evidence that its members could still be mobilised around a shared cause.
He said the level of participation showed that the NPP continued to have a committed support base. With effective leadership, he argued, that support could be brought together and used to rebuild the party’s strength in the region.
Mr Agorhom’s remarks came as delegates gathered to choose the next Greater Accra Regional Chairman, placing the incoming leadership at the centre of the party’s efforts to respond to the 2024 result.
The collapse from 21 parliamentary seats in 2016 to five after the most recent general election represents the scale of the work ahead. The immediate priorities identified by the outgoing chairman are organisational rebuilding, renewed unity and the mobilisation of the party’s existing supporters.
While accepting responsibility for the NPP’s performance, Mr Agorhom also suggested that the party retained the capacity to recover if its members could be united under effective leadership.
