Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, a Founding Father of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has stated that vote-buying looks to have become commonplace in Ghana.
He said that the leaders of numerous political parties are unconcerned about the exchange of money, even during internal elections.
According to him, the practice of purchasing votes endangers Ghana’s democracy.
Speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on Tv3 Tuesday January 9, he said “it appears to have been normalized. The various political parties even, in their internal elections, money has been exchanging hands and they don’t even hide it. To me it is a bit concerning that leadership of the parties are not doing anything about it, they themselves are involved. This poses threat to our democracy. The moment people with dirty money who don’t care about how they use it can buy their way into our legisture, then as a nation we are finished.”
His remarks come at a time when former Electoral Commission (EC) Chair Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has emphasized the dangers of vote-buying and vote-selling to Ghana’s democracy.
Dr. Afari-Gyan claimed that vote-buying and vote-selling damage the country’s democracy by weakening the people’s ability to hold elected officials responsible via elections.
Delivering the Constitution Day public lecture on the theme “Reflections on our democracy: The Constitution, Elections and the Judiciary” organised by the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and One Ghana Movement, on Monday, January 8, Dr Afari-Gyan described vote-buying as a shameful spectacle.
He said among other things that “Vote-buying, in days gone by, whatever vote-buying or vote-selling there was, took place in secrecy. What we have now looks like an open market where candidates can freely buy votes and citizens can freely sell their votes in broad daylight while we all look on unconcerned.
“But it is a shameful spectacle because vote-buying and vote-selling are unlawful and they undermine two important principles that underpin our democracy. Vote-buying undermines the idea that we choose our leaders out of our free will and vote-selling undermines the idea that we always hold our elected leaders accountable through elections.
“I believe that our democracy is stifled when election results seize to be a true representation of our verdict on the performance of our leaders, we cannot therefore hold them accountable through elections. That is precisely what the election open market portends.”