Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu has taken a commanding lead in the race for the Ashanti Regional New Patriotic Party Chairmanship, with a new stakeholder perception survey placing him a staggering 80.6 percentage points ahead of his closest rival, Chairman Odeneho Kweku Appiah (COKA).
The survey, conducted by Africa Wash Consult, on August 7, 2026, puts Kokofu’s overall stakeholder perception at 80.6%, compared with just 19.4% for COKA, in what could become a significant boost to Kokofu’s campaign as the battle for the leadership of the Ashanti NPP intensifies.
The Africa Wash Consult’s survey assessed perceptions of the two contenders across a range of leadership and public-facing attributes among selected stakeholders throughout the Ashanti Region.
Data, according to the research document, was gathered through in-person interviews and online questionnaires, covering traditional authorities, religious leaders, businessmen, market women, media practitioners and transport operators.
The findings paint a striking picture: Kokofu leads COKA in all nine categories measured, with his strongest performances recorded in communication skills, anger management and loyalty.
Among chiefs and queens, pastors, Muslims and businessmen, Kokofu secured 84 out of 101 responses, representing 83.2%, while COKA obtained 16.8%.
The former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also recorded strong support among market women. In the first market women category, Kokofu polled 76.5%, compared with COKA’s 23.5%. A second market women category produced a similarly decisive result, with Kokofu securing 74.6%, while COKA recorded 25.4%.
The media category also favoured Kokofu. Among hosts, bloggers and producers surveyed, obtaining 71.4%, compared with 28.6% for his closest challenger.
The closest category was recorded among taxi and trotro drivers, where Kokofu still maintained a clear lead of 66.7% to 33.3%.
One of the most striking findings of the survey concerns communication skills. and in that category, Dr. Henry Kokofu recorded an overwhelming 88.6%, compared with 11.4% for COKA.
He also scored 87.9% in anger management, while COKA recorded 12.1%. The same 87.9%–12.1% split was recorded under the survey’s loyalty category.
On leadership skills, Kokofu polled 71.3%, against COKA’s 28.7%. Across the nine categories, the survey records 678 responses for Kokofu, representing 80.6%, while COKA garnered 163 responses, or 19.4%, out of a total 841 observations.
On a whole, the average category share was also placed at approximately 78.7% for Kokofu, against 21.3% for COKA.
The research therefore describes Kokofu as enjoying a “strong stakeholder perception advantage,” while acknowledging COKA’s comparatively stronger showing in the transport, media and leadership-skills categories.
Despite the scale of Kokofu’s lead, the researchers caution that the findings should not be treated as the “sole determinant” of the eventual outcome of the Ashanti Regional Chairmanship contest.
The survey recommends that the NPP triangulate the findings with delegate-level evidence, constituency structures, polling-station organisation, organisational acceptability, campaign capacity and other independently verified indicators.
It specifically recommends intensified engagement with transport stakeholders, where the contest produced its narrowest margin, as well as stronger media engagement and further examination of the leadership attributes that have given COKA relatively greater recognition in that category.
For more news, join The Chronicle Newspaper channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBSs55E50UqNPvSOm2
