Former Minister of Health and newly elected Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye, has pledged to unite the various factions within the party and restore cohesion ahead of the 2028 general elections.
Dr Okoe-Boye said his approach to dealing with the divisions would be based on humility, listening and personally engaging members who feel alienated from the party.
Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, he said his medical training had taught him the importance of observation and understanding people before engaging them.
“By God’s grace, I am a doctor, and the training we had was that your observations should give you more clues and answers than even asking questions,” he said.
According to him, he is able to assess people and tailor his approach when interacting with them.
“When I meet you and I am talking to you for two or three minutes, I know how you are. So, when I meet you, I tailor my relationship with you,” he explained.
Dr Okoe-Boye said some of the divisions within the Greater Accra NPP were caused by individuals who felt superior and were unwilling to listen to others.
He, however, said his leadership would be based on a servant attitude, insisting that no member would be made to feel less important.
“Me, Okoe-Boye, when I am sitting with security men and they tell me to sit there, you will come and see me sitting and eating with them. They won’t even know I am the Regional Chairman,” he said.
He added: “When you have a servant attitude, all these factions, I will be their chief servant. I am a servant and I will serve, and so I will bring all the factions together.”
The NPP chairman-elect said he would personally reach out to party members who had become angry or withdrawn from the party due to grievances.
“If someone is angry and has reservations, if I hear of such people, I will go to their place and speak with them like we are all the same,” he assured.
Dr Okoe-Boye said his experience as a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections exposed him to the depth of dissatisfaction among some NPP members.
“When I went into the 2024 elections as a parliamentary candidate, I saw a lot of party members who, when they talked about our issues, it was even more painful than the NDC. These were people we were not even able to speak to,” he said.
He said his administration would therefore make efforts to identify such members, listen to their concerns and encourage them to reconcile with the party.
“We will try and deal with our own people who are angry and talk to them very deeply. After visiting them for a long time, they can trust you and speak to you. Then you ask them to forgive the party and move on,” he said.
Dr Okoe-Boye believes restoring unity within the Greater Accra NPP will be crucial to the party’s chances of winning the 2028 elections.
“So, this is the strategy I will use to ensure that we do all that we can. We will make sure we do a lot to ensure that the factions in Greater Accra are minimised, and then we can win the 2028 elections,” he said.
Dr Okoe-Boye was elected Greater Accra Regional Chairman in the NPP’s regional executive elections held on Saturday, August 15.
He polled 490 votes to defeat Alfred Boye, who secured 172 votes, giving him a 318-vote margin.
