In the recently concluded byelection for the Kumawu constituency, Kwasi Amankwaa, a candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has discussed how vote buying by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) impacted his chances of winning the election.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Mr. Amankwaa claimed that in the NPP’s attempt to keep the seat, the electorate had each received GH50.00 in exchange for their votes.
He admitted that this illegal activity had prompted some of the area’s young people to demand money from him in exchange for their support.
These young people, who are mostly tertiary students, wanted to sell their vote to the highest bidder, according to Mr. Amankwaa.
“I met a few of these young people. There is a town called Banko in Kumawu and about six university students came up to me and said, ‘These people are giving money, we want to vote for you, can you match the amount they are giving to us?’
“And I said, ‘I can give you more than what they are giving you but my conscience will not allow me to do that’,” he told Ayisha Ibrahim on Tuesday.
He expressed his sadness over the tertiary students’ behavior.
“This is the future that we are looking at. Our future leaders are willing to sell their future for 50 cedis,” he stressed.
In the Kumawu constituency, the NPP was able to successfully keep its seat.
Ernest Yaw Anim of the NPP received 15,264 votes, or 70.91% of the total, while Kwasi Amankwaa came in second place with 3,727 votes, or 17.29%.
Following the resounding victory in just-ended Kumawu by-election, the newly elected MP for the constituency addressing the media after the win said his ability to pull the party members helped him win by a landslide.
“The unity I brought into the party has translated into the results we just witnessed. When we look at the victory I’ve gotten, it is clear that the unity was great. This is landslide. The over 70% votes I had shows that the people of Kumawu believe that I can bring development into the constituency,” he said.
