People paying money in exchange of votes has over the years become rampant in Ghana. Many have indicated that elections in Ghana are won by the rich.
The recent New Patriotic Party election in orphan constituencies has demonstrated another story of money sharing. The Office of the Special Prosecutor has summoned some persons to be investigated for openly sharing money during the primaries.
Even though the OSP did not indicate which election the alleged vote buying took place, viral videos show the men in the wanted notices admitting that they were given money by the contenders in the just-ended New Patriotic Party (NPP) orphan constituency parliamentary primaries.
In one of the videos shared by JoyNews, at least two of the men in the wanted notice could be seen holding huge sums of cash in branded envelopes they claim were given to them by the candidates in the primaries.
The two men are NPP delegates from the Ablekuma Central Constituency, who admitted to being given at least GH¢2000 each.
The envelopes that they showed to the cameras when branded with pictures of the contestants in the primaries.
“I have gotten more than GH¢2000 and they just gave me lorry fare too… It is my money, it is mine,” one of the men in the wanted notices said.
“The money is here; we got a lot of money. This is the first time, I have never experienced this before,” another one of the wanted notices said.
About the Ablekuma Central primaries:
Jefferson Sackey, a Deputy Director of Communication at the Office of the President, beat his contenders, Collins Amoah, a businessman; Ebenezer Nii Narh Nartey, a former MP for the constituency; and Samuel Brako-Amoafo, a businessman, and emerged as the parliamentary candidate to represent the NPP in the 2024 parliamentary elections for the Ablekuma Central Constituency.
He won the primaries by polling 539 of the votes cast.