Crusaders Against Corruption, a civil society group, has condemned the widespread incidents of vote buying during the parliamentary primary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) held on February 7.
This is contained in a press release issued by the Chief Crusader, Emmanuel Wilson Jnr on February 9.
“In line with our consistent position, we strongly condemn all acts of vote buying and voter inducement in the electoral process in Ghana. These practices are unlawful, unethical, and fundamentally threaten the integrity of our democratic system,” he wrote.
According to the press release, “Vote buying, whether through cash, gifts, food items, or promises of material benefit, is expressly prohibited under Ghana’s electoral laws, including the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127), and relevant provisions of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
“These laws criminalize corrupt electoral practices and impose sanctions on individuals who seek to improperly influence voters. Such conduct violates the principles of free, fair, and transparent elections guaranteed by the Constitution and undermines the sovereign right of the Ghanaian people to choose their leaders without coercion or inducement. Exploiting economic hardship to sway voters is not only illegal but morally reprehensible,” Mr Wilson Jnr stressed.
He added that “We do not believe that ad-hoc approach and measures to this criminal act is the solution.”
Crusaders Against Corruption therefore demands that:
1. The presidency should formally call the attention of the appropriate state investigative bodies to ensure absolute enforcement of the laws irrespective of who or which political party is involved;
2. The legislative arm of government must exercise its oversight responsibility by ensuring that relevant state institutions are called immediately to act on the matter per the law.
3. The OSP must give an immediate account to us citizens of how his office has applied these laws in the numerous alleged votes buying cases in all previous elections that he claims are being investigated.
Read also: https://3news.com/news/vote-buying-allegation-ill-avail-myself-to-the-investigation-baba-jamal
