The Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), Kofi Kapito, has criticised the practice of providing food and other incentives to voters during political primaries, describing it as unethical and counterproductive.
Speaking on Joy News AM about voter inducement during party primaries, he said, “It’s not just an NDC thing. It’s a Ghana thing.”
“That I think we should take a look at. And using technicalities, it is allowed. But when the masses don’t buy the technicalities, it becomes a problem.”
He added that the lack of ethics in Ghana begins after formal education.
“Ghana, we don’t have ethics. In other jurisdictions, they even have ethical societies. I’m sure at the university, they teach ethics. The question is, what happens to us when we leave the university? We don’t even have ethics in this country. This has been going on for the longest time. Maybe for the first time, we could have used this as a yardstick to say that enough is enough.”
Kofi Kapito argued that such practices are part of a broader cultural issue that hinders progress in African societies.
“That is what we do as Africans and Black people. That’s why we are not progressing. In other jurisdictions, yes, something will happen, but they make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We will give excuses. This person also did it. So what? Does it make it right?”
He also reflected on how voter inducement has contributed to delays in representation in constituencies, drawing on his own experience as a first-time voter.
“I voted for the first time as a Ghanaian in 1992. This thing was not there. Actually, in 1992, the NPP, as a party, as is done in some places, were actually even paying for people to come and represent the party. So what happened?”
He condemned the expectation that candidates should “buy” votes with handouts or promises.
“He comes and tells you that, when Honorable came, he didn’t do anything for you. He didn’t do the road. If you vote for me, I’ll do that. I’ll do this. I’ll do that. So you take this and make sure that you vote for me. This denial is using words like “TNT,” “welfare,” and “I fed them.” “Please, why should you feed people to vote for you? Are they your children?”
Her comments come amid controversy surrounding the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Ayawaso East parliamentary primaries, where Mohammed Baba Jamal Ahmed has been accused of distributing items, including 32-inch television sets and boiled eggs, to delegates on voting day.
Meanwhile, the NDC has confirmed Baba Jamal as its candidate for the Ayawaso East parliamentary by-election after deciding that annulment of the internal parliamentary primary was not an option.
The General Secretary of the party, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, who was part of the party’s Functional Executive Committee that received an inquiry from a three-member committee’s probe into allegation of vote-buying, mentioned that time constraints, potential legal challenges that may arise if the party decided to annul the results, and the lack of clear provisions in the party’s constitution to guide such situations were the reasons for maintaining Baba Jamal as the validly elected parliamentary candidate.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com