Third Term: Woanya Retains Volta NPP Chairmanship

Makafui Kofi Woanyah has been re-elected Volta Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), narrowly turning back a spirited challenge from former Regional Secretary Joseph Homenya to secure a third consecutive term at the helm of the party’s affairs in the region. The outcome was declared on Saturday August 15, at Mawuli Senior High School in Ho, venue for the region’s delegates’ conference, after a contest that had been billed as the standout race on a day when the NPP held regional executive elections simultaneously across fifteen regions. Woanyah polled enough votes to beat Homenya by a margin of 21, according to results, extending a rivalry that has now played out twice at the polls.

The contest was widely regarded as the marquee event of the day’s exercise, framed by party members as a choice between continuity under Woanyah and change under Homenya. It was also Homenya’s second attempt to unseat the incumbent, having lost to him in the 2022 regional elections by a wider margin of 188 votes to 100. Woanyah first won the Volta chairmanship in 2018, rising from the post of regional organizer to beat off competition from three other aspirants at a delegates’ congress held in Hohoe, before going on to retain the seat in 2022 and now in 2026.

Beyond the chairmanship race, delegates also elected candidates to ten other regional executive positions, including the offices of first and second vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer, organizer, women’s organizer, youth organizer and Nasara coordinator, among others. With Kenneth Kodjo Ayim elected 1st Vice Chairman, 2nd Vice Chairman: Palous Quashie, Shanbanton Moses as Regional Secretary. Titus Attamiah was also elected Deputy Secretary, Regional Treasurer: Oxford Kwasi Agboli, Wisdom Klutsey emerged as Regional Organizer with Lebene Gbeti as Women Organizer. Youth Organiser: Senyo Emmanuel Amekplenu, Nasara Organiser: Abdullah Suala while Perry Kwashie Nuwordu was elected communications officer.

Speaking to journalists after his victory was announced, Woanyah described the newly elected executive team as a capable and formidable group, expressing confidence that the leaders who emerged from the conference were well placed to strengthen the party’s structures and deliver significant gains for the NPP going forward. He struck a tone of unity, calling on members across the region to rally behind the new executives regardless of which candidates they had backed, and pledged to work with the team to rebuild the party’s grassroots ahead of the next general election.

“I can assure you that the Volta Region will not remain the same because of the promises that were made after the NDC’s victory. The 24-hour economy, this time around, is dumsor, dumsor, dumsor, dumsor. Ghanaians are now realizing that they have to go back to the NPP because that is the only way they can survive,” he stressed.

Saturday’s exercise formed part of a nationwide reorganization of the NPP following its defeat in the 2024 general election. Fifteen regions elected their executives on the same day, with only the Western North Region scheduled to vote a day later. The newly elected regional officers, who will serve four-year terms, have been tasked with rebuilding the party’s grassroots structures, reuniting rank-and-file members and mobilizing support as the NPP works toward the 2028 general election. The regional exercises are expected to culminate in the election of national party officers in October.

Party officials overseeing the process said the polls were conducted transparently, with the Regional Elections Committee supervising proceedings and the Electoral Commission of Ghana handling the technical conduct of voting, while security was provided by the Ghana Police Service. With the chairmanship contest settled, attention within the Volta NPP is now expected to turn to how Woanyah’s re-constituted executive team unites the region’s constituency structures and builds momentum for the party’s campaign to reclaim power in 2028.

By: Joyce Owusu