The former Head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, has intimated that the upcoming NPP Executive elections will not be based on competence.
According to Dr. Amoako Baah the nod will be given to the highest bidder and the one who has much money to buy the delegates.
Dr. Amoako Baah, who was a former aspirant of the New Patriotic Party National Chairmanship race, then described the upcoming national executive elections as not mere elections but “an auction event”.
“I am of the view that the NPP elections will just be another business as usual where the highest bidder will win.”
Dr. Richard Amoako Baah
The Political Scientist further lamented that the electoral college is the “bedrock of corruption” in partisan activities of the country. He stated that he is basing his premise on the just ended regional elections where thousands of cedis were shared among delegates to influence their decisions, as such, this will be no different.
Dr. Amoako Baah suggested that it is about time the party opened up the electoral college to involve all card-bearing members in good standing to vote to reduce the monetization in Ghana’s partisan politics.
However, the political scientist posited that until such drastic measures are taken, the upcoming NPP national elections is just another business as usual and the election grounds will be a market place for the delegates to harvest money from the aspirants.
Dealing with monetization of politics will take a while
Commenting on the upcoming National Executive elections of the New Patriotic Party as well, Political Scientist, Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante, indicated that it is likely to take a while for Ghana to deal with the situation of monetization of politics.
Dr. Asah-Asante averred that a time is fast approaching where the people will not be influenced with money but vote based on their conviction. He stated that it is his hope and prayer that monetization will no longer be part of the political system.
“In terms of money monetization of politics we allowed them to cross the line. I hope for a time that the citizens will not be influenced by money, where they will vote based on their conscience and issues. It will take a while for us to do away with monetization.”
Dr. Asah-Asante
Both comments came after the National Elections Committee of the NPP, chaired by Mr. Peter Mac Manu, approved the aspirants to take part in the upcoming National Officers’ elections slated for 15th to 17th July 2022.
According to a statement by the party, the approval was after an extensive discussion with the prospective candidates and the interrogation of their documents.
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