NPP delegates approve 14 constitutional changes at Kumasi congress

Delegates at the New Patriotic Party’s national delegates conference in Kumasi voted to adopt all fourteen proposed constitutional amendments, ignoring an earlier suggestion by acting chairman Joseph Danquah Smith to delay the process. The vote took place at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium as the opening agenda item before the party moves to elect its new national officers. Smith had argued that the delegates needed more time to scrutinise the proposals while also taking part in the executive elections, but the party pressed ahead with the review. The amendments, presented by the Constitution Amendment Committee, were all passed by the assembled delegates. A key change overturns the party’s earlier clause that made the national chairman the permanent leader of the party. Instead, the flagbearer is now designated as the party’s leader at all material times. Another amendment revises the election of vice‑chairpersons: rather than contesting a single national first vice‑chair role, candidates will now declare which specific vice‑chair position they seek, and three additional vice‑chairpersons will be appointed without an election. The party also created deputy communications officer posts and upgraded the IT officer to an executive role. Frank Davies, chair of the amendment committee, said the revisions close gaps in the party’s organisational structure ahead of the 2028 general election. He described the changes as necessary to correct omissions from previous amendments and to strengthen the NPP’s internal framework. After the constitutional vote, delegates turned to the election of nine national executive positions, with 7,163 delegates from all sixteen regions casting ballots across thirty‑one polling stations under the supervision of the Electoral Commission. Results for the executive posts are expected later today. The conference forms part of a two‑stage process that combines constitutional reform with the selection of party officers. Earlier in the day, various party figures gave brief statements on the proceedings, but the central outcome remains the adoption of the fourteen amendments and the subsequent vote on new national officers.