After his landslide victory in the New Patriotic Party (NPP), presidential primaries, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has departed Accra for the United Kingdom, combining international engagement with post-primary reconciliation efforts.
The former Vice President and NPP flagbearer announced that he left Ghana on Tuesday evening to attend a high-level symposium at the Blavatnik School of Government of the University of Oxford, organised in honour of Professor Paul Collier, the globally respected economist whose work has influenced development policy across Africa and beyond.
Dr. Bawumia is expected to participate in a series of academic and policy-related activities while in Oxford before returning to Ghana over the weekend.
The trip comes at a time when the NPP is transitioning from an often intense internal contest into a broader campaign phase ahead of the 2028 general elections.
Prior to his departure, Dr. Bawumia undertook a series of symbolic but politically significant courtesy visits to former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
During the meetings, he expressed appreciation for their leadership and contributions to the party’s successful conduct of the presidential primary, which has positioned the NPP to begin early preparations for the next national contest.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the engagements were also an opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to party unity.
He assured both former presidents of his determination to lead a cohesive and strengthened NPP capable of securing victory in 2028.
The visits are widely seen within party circles as part of a broader post-primary healing and consolidation process, aimed at bringing all factions together behind a single campaign vision.
Dr. Bawumia’s landslide primary victory has reinforced his status as the party’s standard-bearer, but party leaders have repeatedly stressed that unity, discipline and strategic organisation will be critical in the months ahead.
His immediate outreach to party elders, coupled with his participation in international policy forums, underscores an effort to project both internal cohesion and global relevance as the NPP looks toward the next phase of the electoral cycle.
The former Vice President polled 110,643 votes, representing 56.48% of valid votes, decisively defeating his closest rivals and securing victories in 232 out of the 276 constituencies nationwide.
His closest challenger, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, finished second with 46,554 votes (23.76%), winning 22 constituencies, while Dr. Bryan Acheampong garnered 36,303 votes (18.53%), taking 21 constituencies, and Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum captured only one constituency, Bosomtwe, where he is an MP.
This distribution highlights the breadth of Bawumia’s appeal across 14 of Ghana’s 16 regions, with Agyapong’s Central Region and Acheampong’s Volta Region as the only exceptions.
Nationwide Spread
Dr Bawumia’s victory is notable not just for the percentage but for the geographical spread and depth of his support.
In comparison to the 2023 NPP primary, where he won 61.7% of votes, the 2026 result, while slightly lower in percentage, represents a broader and more distributed mandate.
Analysts point out that the vote margin between Bawumia and Agyapong widened from 46,214 votes in 2023 to 64,089 votes in 2026, reflecting enhanced support among delegates across multiple constituencies. Bryan Acheampong was the major beneficiary of the contest beating bookmakers in their predictions.
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