Nana Akomea, the newly elected Third National Vice Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), says he gave each delegate GH¢400 as transport money during his campaign for the position.
He said as a strategy, his campaign, which lasted about five weeks, was conducted without posters, banners, T-shirts or billboards, with him travelling with a small team in a single four-wheel-drive vehicle.
He was speaking in a television interview monitored by Graphic Online on Joy News' PM Express programme aired on Monday, October 6, 2026, a day after the NPP's national delegates' conference at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.
Nana Akomea polled 2,981 votes to place third in the contest for the three national vice chair positions.
Explaining his campaign expenditure, Nana Akomea said many delegates had to travel long distances to meet candidates, often at centres serving several constituencies.
"I gave GH¢400 to them as transport each," he said.
He cited the journey from Kintampo to Atebubu, which he said took about three and a half hours, saying transport in such areas "is not the easiest".
Nana Akomea said some delegates appeared to expect more, which he interpreted as an indication that another candidate had given them more money.
He said he suspected some candidates might have given delegates GH¢300 as transport.
Asked whether he had been outspent, Nana Akomea said: "It is possible. And it is also possible that I also outspent somebody."
He said no candidate could ever have "an adequate war chest for an election".
He did not disclose his total campaign expenditure, explaining that receipts were still being compiled.
He said the final figure would include fuel, hotel accommodation and food for himself and his team.
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Nana Akomea said his campaign was deliberately conducted without the usual campaign materials.
"I did not have a poster. I did not have a banner. I did not have a t-shirt, caps, nothing," he said.
He described the approach as an experiment to determine whether a campaign could succeed "without too much paraphernalia".
He said he entered the race late after nominations opened following the regional elections, leaving him about five weeks to campaign.
He said he travelled with a small team in one four-wheel-drive vehicle, while some of the other candidates used five-car convoys and advance teams.
In some places, he said, delegates mistook his vehicle for an advance car.
"It is not the caps that vote, it is the message and how they receive the message," he said.
Nana Akomea said he had expected to finish either first or second.
"It disappointed me a little," he said, adding that the top four candidates were separated by narrow margins.
He said he paid little attention to opinion polls which placed him among the leading contenders.
He described the conference as orderly, saying there was little acrimony among the candidates.
He also said there was "not a lot of open vote buying that you would see at such big elections".
The contest was his first competitive partisan election since 2012.
Nana Akomea previously represented Okaikwei South in Parliament.
Asked whether he would contest another internal election, he said his attention was now on the NPP's campaign for the 2028 general election.
He said he would support the party's presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, a former Vice-President.
On why he was not present for the swearing-in of the newly elected executives at the stadium, Nana Akomea explained he arrived at the stadium about 10 minutes after the ceremony had ended because of heavy traffic around the venue.
He said he was therefore not sworn in and expected the new executives to hold their first meeting the following day, when he would take the oath of office.
