NPP polls: Vote-buying another form of bribery – Lawyer

A constitutional lawyer, Paul Kumi, has reminded the political actors in the country that the act of vote-buying during conferences and congresses to elect national officers to steer the affairs of political parties is another form of bribery.

He explained that vote-buying is against the electoral and criminal laws of the country.

He said vote-buying is a crime and punishable by law, just like bribery.

He stressed that vote-buying is an affront to the country’s constitution.

According to him, these acts by the political actors make politics in Ghana very expensive.

He added that vote-buying is a way of bribery and, for that matter, a criminal offence that must be acknowledged as such.

Mr Kumi bemoaned that the act is festering because institutions that are mandated to ensure these do not happen have failed to take action on many of these lapses in the country’s body politics.

Mr Kumi said these in an interview with Kwame Obeng Sarkodie, host of the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra 100.5 FM on Monday, June 18, 2022, in reaction to the allegations of vote-buying at the just-ended governing New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) delegates conference held in the Greater Accra Region over the weekend.

“If you give a gift to a person during an election to influence him or her to vote in a particular direction, it is vote-buying,” he explained.

He noted that “if our institutions are proactive, they should have invited all the persons involved in the allegations of vote-buying at the just-ended NPP delegate’s conference for questioning.”

At the conference, one of the National Chairman hopefuls, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, in an interview, alleged that Mr Stephen Ayensu Ntim, who later emerged winner of the position of National Chairman, was neck-deep in vote-buying.

According to Mr Kumi, the police should have invited Mr Stephen Asamaoh Boateng to come and substantiate his allegations against Mr Ntim, “and if it is established to be true, the votes that declared Mr Ntim winner must also be declared null and void.”

He called on the Ghana Revenue Authority to also pursue Mr Asamoah Baoteng to establish whether he paid income tax on the money he paid as transport (TNT) to delegates during his campaigns across the country to interact with them.