Member of Parliament for the Effiduase-Asokore constituency in the Ashanti Region, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriye, has asserted that the perceived arrogance of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo played a major role in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) disappointing loss in the 2024 elections.

He cited the president’s comments in the Ashanti Region, where he suggested that if the people of Kwabre in the Ashanti Region wanted to vote for the NDC, they were free to do so.

Additionally, Dr. Afriye indicated that the president's disregard for chiefs also contributed to the humiliating defeat of the party in the 2024 elections.

According to him, politics in Ghana is largely about perception, and as a politician, the president should have exercised restraint in his actions during the election year.

However, that was not the case, and the NPP paid the price during the election.

“If you are going into an election and the president tells you, ‘Kwabre East, if you will not vote for me, it is your case,’ how do you expect the people to feel when he says this?” Dr. Afriye stated.

“What the president did was unacceptable. And if, in an election year, you tell chiefs to stand up and greet you, the Ghanaian people don’t like that. So the president has his shortcomings, and others, including Ken, also have theirs. People in the pipeline also have their faults.”

“When you say you want to introduce an e-levy, and the people say they don’t want it, but you insist on introducing it, even when we in Parliament suggested reducing it and explaining it to the people, you did not agree,” he said in an interview on Oyerepa TV.

He added that the low turnout during the election was a sign of angst, apathy, and disappointment on the part of the Ghanaian people, indicating that the NPP has learned bitter lessons and will do better, having understood their shortcomings.