Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, popularly known as COKA, has been elected the new Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), succeeding Bernard Antwi Boasiako, widely known as Chairman Wontumi.
COKA secured 663 votes to defeat former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, who polled 269 votes in the regional chairmanship contest.
His election brings an end to Wontumi’s three-term leadership of the party in the Ashanti Region and ushers in a new leadership style focused on grassroots organisation, consultation and electoral recovery.
COKA, who previously served as Afigya Kwabre Constituency Chairman for five terms, has held several positions within the NPP, including Ward Organiser, Ward Chairman and Regional Financial Secretary.
He also served as Chairman of the Conference of Constituency Chairmen in Ashanti for two terms. His campaign was built around the promise of delivering results with less rhetoric, summed up in his statement: “I will lead Ashanti with less speeches and more work.”
COKA’s victory comes after he lost the 2022 regional chairmanship contest to Wontumi, who polled 464 votes against his 306.
The new chairman is expected to focus on rebuilding the NPP’s grassroots structures and improving the party’s electoral performance ahead of the 2028 general election.
The NPP suffered significant setbacks in Ashanti in the 2024 election, with the party losing 10 of the region’s 47 parliamentary seats to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The party’s presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, also recorded a decline in his vote share in the region compared with the 2020 election.
COKA has pledged to increase the NPP’s presidential votes and parliamentary seats in the region.
“We will work together. We will decide together. We will enjoy together. And yes, we will even suffer together,” he said during his campaign, while promising to uphold the party’s constitution.
Unlike Wontumi, whose leadership was characterised by a highly visible and outspoken public persona, COKA has presented himself as a quieter and more consultative leader with an emphasis on organisation and grassroots mobilisation.
COKA holds a degree in Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Peace, Security and Intelligence Management from the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
He also has more than two decades of private-sector experience and has interests spanning hospitality, construction, transportation and haulage.
His election comes at a particularly difficult period for Wontumi, who had declared his intention to contest the NPP’s national chairmanship.
In July 2026, Wontumi was convicted by an Accra High Court in connection with illegal-mining-related offences linked to the Samreboi concession and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The NPP has rejected the judgment and announced plans to appeal.
With COKA now in charge, attention will turn to whether his promised approach of “less talk, more work” can translate into stronger grassroots organisation and improved electoral fortunes for the NPP in the Ashanti Region.
