Its obvious votes were bought in NPP polls, Murtala alleges
Drug dealers will take over NPP if vote-buying isn't addressed – Asabee
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, has called on the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate allegations of vote buying in the just-ended New Patriotic Party (NPP) national elections.
Murtala said that the allegations are very serious and merit an investigation because they were made by a former MP and ex-Director General of the State Interests and Governance Authority, Stephen Asamoah Boateng.
The Tamale Central MP, who made these remarks in a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb, added that even Asamoah Boateng himself admitted to giving NPP delegates some money for transportation which is wrong according to the election laws of the country.
“… these are serious allegations that are made by no less a person than a contestant in the election (Stephen Asamoah Boateng) … clearly monies were expended. Even Asamoah Boateng, who made these wild allegations, himself said he paid for transportation for people to come. And if you look at the total number it means that he might have paid millions of Ghana cedis.
“I think that the special prosecutor should be interested in these… How did he get the money? The last time I checked, he has been a Member of Parliament for one term and he has been a minister of state. I don’t know what he engages in that could afford him that money to pay. And he wasn’t the only person who made those payments. The Special Prosecutor must look into this,” he said.
The MP made these remarks while reacting to allegations by defeated National Chairman hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Asamoah Boateng, that some of the candidates in the executive elections were trying to manipulate the delegates with money.
Stephen Asamoah Boateng, popularly known as Asabee, said that he only gave the delegates money for transportation, but others gave them huge sums to influence their decision.
He added that if this issue of candidates influencing party delegates is not addressed, criminals, including drug dealers, will take over the NPP, graphiconline.com reports.
"People want to manipulate them with money. I am a straightforward, straight honest person. Whatever I should have given them for T&T, I've given. I'm done. I don't have any extra money anywhere. I am not going to take money that is tainted… That is the problem that we need to tackle. The whole contest must be restructured. If the party doesn't restructure the way we conduct these internal elections, we can never tell where a drug dealer, a money launderer, will take over our party," he is quoted to have said in an interview on Joy News.
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Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyabeng