Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission of Ghana, Elikem Kotoko, has blamed the New Patriotic Party’s 2024 electoral loss on the leadership of former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,
Reflecting on the events of the 2024 election one year later, Elikem Kotoko described the loss as an embarrassing defeat.
According to him, Dr. Bawumia had no choice but to concede defeat after the polls, stressing that there was no unusual tension surrounding the election to justify any alternative outcome.
Mahamudu Bawumia officially conceded defeat in the 2024 Ghanaian presidential election on Sunday, December 8, 2024, the day after the election was held.
Speaking on TV3 and monitored by NewsDesksGH on December 8, Elikem Kotoko dismissed claims that the former Vice President’s concession was a response to heightened national tension.
“Which tension was there? We’ve held elections before. There were higher tensions than even this, you can look at 2016.”
He accused Dr. Bawumia of poor leadership, arguing that the party was misled into defeat.
“Let us state it as a fact. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia led or misled the NPP to an embarrassing defeat.”
Mr. Kotoko also described the former Vice President as being disconnected from political reality, saying, “He was living in a fools paradise.”
“He was always making joke of almost everything. You’ll recall, ‘I want to promise pastors I was gonna pay them’ later ‘I was just joking’. Are you a clown? Why joke with our Reverend fathers?”
In May 2024, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, then flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, clarified that some remarks he made about paying churches rather than taxing them were not meant to be taken seriously.
“At that point I was joking and I said people are talking about taxing churches. I don’t believe, and we will not tax churches. Because if you look at the work the churches have done, then, I was joking then, maybe we should have actually paid them for what they did, not trying to tax them. But I wasn’t really saying we should pay churches, no.” Bawumia had explained.
Elikem Kotoko further criticised individuals around Dr. Bawumia, accusing them of misleading him for personal relevance.
“He had a couple of very young arrogant guys around him. Who I saw only to be misinforming in order to stage further relevance around him.”
He added that those close to the former Vice President failed to correct his missteps throughout the campaign.
Stressing on his position on the election outcome, Kotoko insisted that the loss was clear and decisive.
“There was no tension anywhere. There was nothing new with what he did. He had absolutely no choice, he lost embarrassingly.”
“And he disrespected President Mahama throughout the electoral process,” he added.
