Former NPP General Secretary, John Boadu, says the party must redesign its policies and engagement to win over Ghana’s growing youth population.
He believes the NPP’s future depends on how well it connects with young voters, who will form the majority of the electorate by 2028.
“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.
“By the year 2028, ages between 18 to around 36 to 40 will be about 60% of the voters.”
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express with Evans Mensah, Boadu said the key solution lies in getting into the space of the youth and addressing their interests directly.
“The solution is to get into their arena and their interest and deal with them,” he said.
Asked if he would consider involving popular musicians like Shatta Wale in the party’s campaign, Boadu said, “If possible, why not? You can get other people out as well.”
But he clarified that this would not necessarily mean mounting them on political platforms.
“Not necessarily a hard campaign, but passing through our messages,” he explained.
Evans Mensah reminded him that the NPP had already used songs from Shatta Wale and King Paluta in the 2024 campaign, yet the party suffered a heavy defeat.
Mr Boadu admitted that music alone could not solve the problem.
“You need to do more of that by nurturing these youthful people,” he said.
He stressed that the NPP must engage the youth on their own terms and not only during campaign season. “I am saying it is not even necessary to have them at your rallies,” he noted.
“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 spoke about the growing influence of young academics, suggesting that many now lean towards the opposition NDC.
“You can now see that academia, for instance, looks like the NDC is having a lot of them as we speak now,” he observed.
He said most of these young professionals were not seeking political appointments but recognition and inclusion.
“Many of these people don’t need so much,” he said.
“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.”
For Mr Boadu, the path to recovery for the NPP is not through slogans or rallies, but through meaningful engagement with a youthful majority that is reshaping Ghana’s political future.