A leading figure in Kennedy Agyapong’s campaign team, Dr. Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, has criticised Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign over its “9% pe” message in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer race.
His comments came after opposition NDC member Elikem Kotoko accused Dr. Bawumia of politicising the death of the late Akwatia MP, Ernest Kumi, during a condolence visit to the bereaved family.
Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV on Monday, September 1, 2025, Dr. Boakye-Danquah dismissed the credibility of the Vice President’s campaign narrative, which suggests that after winning 41% of the national vote in the 2024 elections, the NPP needs only an additional 9% to secure victory in 2028.
“This morning I have been careful not to talk about the ‘9% pe’ because some of the comments you hear, you are not sure whether they are voodoo analysis, scientific, or unscientific,” he said. He argued that the party required a unifying flagbearer who could rally its parliamentary candidates, rather than one depending on questionable arithmetic.
“We have not even concluded our primaries, yet you assume you will win and that it’s only ‘9% pe’ left. Meanwhile, you are the candidate in the Fourth Republic who recorded the lowest vote count compared to the total parliamentary votes. In 2024, all NPP MPs together secured 5 million votes, but you managed only 4 million. From 1996 to date, this has never happened,” Dr. Boakye-Danquah added.
The NPP flagbearer contest has increasingly been marked by heated exchanges between the camps of Dr. Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong, as both sides intensify efforts to win the mandate to lead the party into the 2028 elections.
