A Political Science Lecturer says both the ruling party and the opposition must be ashamed of a finding that say they are engaged in vote buying even though the act is said to be prevalent among one of them.
Dr Ransford Gyampo says irrespective of the disparity in the percentage which Ghanaians assigned to the parties with respect to their perception of vote buying, the finding is a setback for democracy.
“What is wrong is wrong. No Presidential Aspirant seeking the mandate of the people has that right to involve himself in just buying votes. So if the NDC is doing it, it is very wrong. If the NPP is doing it is also very wrong irrespective of the percentage that we put on it,” he said.
He wants the discourse about the CDD finding to focus on the wrongness of the action and not the associated figures.
Dr Gyampo was speaking Thursday on PM Express on the Joy News channel on Multi TV.
In a pre-election survey report, the CDD found the NDC of leading political parties in vote buying ahead of the 2016 general election.
About 51 percent of Ghanaians who took part in the survey said the John-Mahama government has been offering gifts in exchange for their votes.
The NDC figure is 19 percent higher than the percentage recorded by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) which recorded 32 percent.
According to CDD, the parties use mostly cash, alcohol and clothing to buy votes.
The survey finding follows closely with recent reports that President Mahama has been presenting items to voters on his campaign trail.
During a campaign tour of the Western Region, President Mahama gave outboard motors to fisherfolks, a move described by the party as a donation to motivate the fishermen.
The President’s wife, Lordina Mahama, has also been donating assorted products to residents in different part of the country with her Lordina Foundation.
This development has been described by anti-graft groups as worrying although the party sees nothing wrong.
The NPP’s Director of Elections, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, has said the CDD finding is true of the NDC, but not his party.
However, speaking on PM Express, Dr Gyampo said the both parties must be ashamed of the finding. He said criticising the NDC alone for scoring higher in purported vote buying incidence would be missing the point.
He said Ghana’s politics has reached a stage where politicians must stick to the core tenets of democracy, and urged them to rise above banal political maneuvers.
Meanwhile, the NDC has rejected the CDD survey. The party says the survey finding is an insult to the intelligence of Ghainaian voters.
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