Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, says if possible, he would get dancehall artiste Shatta Wale to join the NPP because of his influence among the youth.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, November 11, the NPP Chair aspirant said connecting with young people is crucial for the NPP’s future.
“I know how to deal with these young guys selling our messages, and making our message not too hard, as soft as they want, we’ll be able to get to them,” he said.
“And it is, it is an area that by the year 2028, ages between 18 to around 36 to 40 will be about 60% of the voters.”
When host Evans Mensah asked what makes his solution unique among other contenders, Mr Boadu replied, “The solution is to get into their arena and their interest and deal with them.”
Pressed further on whether he would bring Shatta Wale into the NPP, he responded, “If possible, why not? You can get other people out as well.”
Evans asked whether that meant Shatta Wale would campaign for the NPP. “Not necessarily a hard campaign,” Boadu clarified, “but passing through our messages.”
Evans pointed out that in 2024, the NPP used songs by King Paluta and Shatta Wale during the campaign but still lost by a historic margin.
Mr Boadu agreed that the party needed to go beyond that. “You need to do more of that by nurturing these youthful people,” he said.
He stressed that the party’s approach must change.
“I am saying it is not even necessary to have them at your rallies. You need to meet them where they are. You need to be able to tap them with their interest and not necessarily bring them on your political platforms, and it is important that we look at that.”
Mr Boadu also noted that the NPP risks losing ground in key spaces.
“You can now see that academia, for instance, looks like the NDC is having a lot of them as we speak now,” he said.
“Many of these people don’t need so much. It’s not about an appointment. Many of them just need recognition.
“Many of them need that touch, that belonging touch of the party to be able to get because many of them want to be seen as the ones who are even reviewing your programs, reviewing your policies.”