Former Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called on the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to allow sitting Members of Parliament to contest unopposed in the party’s upcoming parliamentary primaries.
According to him, the party should only open primaries in constituencies where sitting MPs have become unpopular due to disaffection among party members, traditional leaders among others.
“We must build consensus to protect the parliamentary seats we currently hold. If we conduct primaries in all constituencies, we risk losing more seats in the general elections,” he said.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stressed that the party must draw lessons from the 2024 and 2028 general elections, noting that the NPP lost several parliamentary seats in the Northern, Central and Greater Accra regions as a result of internal challenges arising from competitive primaries.
“We must learn from the last elections. Some of the losses were caused by issues that emerged during our own parliamentary primaries,” he added.
The former Suame MP also urged the party to channel its energy into reclaiming so-called “orphan constituencies” seats currently held by the opposition rather than creating internal divisions in constituencies already controlled by the NPP.
