Ampaabeng Assimeng, the chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the Akim Oda Constituency, is said to have acknowledged that the party made arrangements for money to be distributed to voters on the day of the Assin North by-elections.
Ampaabeng Assimeng is heard saying that the polling station (PS) he was overseeing received GHc600,000, which was supposed to be given to voters, in an audio recording played on Accra-based Onua FM on only July 6, 2023.
However, he claimed that the NPP supporters were not given the money, which caused them to vote against the party’s nominee in the Assin North by-election.
“What happened was that the money went into the wrong hands. We don’t know who the monies were given and the amount that was left.
“At the four polling stations, we were supervising, our leadership made us understand that the money that was allocated to them was GHc600,000, that is 600 billion old cedis but look at the votes we got,” he said in the Twi dialect.
The NPP constituency chairman issued a warning that if the party does not take the necessary action, it may experience the same outcome in the general elections of 2024.
“The polling stations were talking about are NPP strongholds. In previous elections with a voter population of 2000, the NPP gets 1600 votes the NDC around 400. But see what happened during the by-election, we were winning by only 8 or 10.
“Things are not going well and if this should be how we are going to break the 8, God should have mercy on us,” he said.
Quayson defeated Charles Opoku of the NPP, who received 12,630 votes, or 42.15 percent of the total votes cast, and Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), who received 87 votes, or 0.29 percent of the total votes cast.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, James Gyakye Quayson was sworn in formally as the Member of Parliament for Assin North following his resounding victory in the by-election.
