Political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Kwasi Amakye-Boateng, has bemoaned the monetisation that was seen in the recent New Patriotic Party (NPP) orphan constituency parliamentary primaries.
According to him, what took place in the primaries was not an election because the outcome had already been decided by some person and a system was put in place to ensure that chosen persons win.
The academic, who made these remarks in an interview on Neat FM on Monday, December 4, 2023, said that a key part of the strategy was to put some persons in various positions in government so that they would make money which they used to influence the decision of the party’s delegates.
“The position was purchased, simple and straight. Even the Bible says that money does a lot of things. And politics is also an exercise of influence and If there is any commodity that can influence outcomes, it is cash.
“The positions were purchased forget about competence. Trace all those who won, what were they worth before being given positions in the government,” he said in Twi.
He added, “The elections were organised but it was a façade. It was a façade. Some people had already planned it in the room. We want this person to be here, we want this person to be there”.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), on Sunday, December 3, 2023, issued a wanted notice for six men allegedly involved in vote buying during a public election.
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 NPP orphan constituency primaries.
Watch Dr Amakye’s remarks in the video below:
Source: ghanaweb.com
