It is only a child who will believe the explanation by Chief of Staff Julius Debrah that President John Mahama may have distributed leaflets rather than cash during his tour of Abossey Okai, Nana Sarpong Agyemang, a member of pressure group OccupyGhana, has said.
Mr Mahama was captured on video distributing what critics say was money to specific people within the crowd that surrounded him during his campaign tour.
Reacting to the viral video, Mr Julius Debrah said the video could have been doctored and that Mr Mahama does not move around with cash.
“ … Presidents don’t carry money around. I never knew until I got to the presidency,” he said.
“I believe sincerely that knowing President Mahama, he wouldn’t deliberately go to a market place and start throwing money around. He is a very experienced person.
“Having worked with him closely, I believe that under no circumstance will he be throwing money around.”
He also said the president could have been sharing leaflet. “It is also possible that it could be a leaflet. Anytime the president walks, he does not carry cash on him and that is the tradition from generations. So I will be very surprised if the president had cash on him,” he told Joy FM on Thursday.
But in a quick response to this explanation, Mr Agyemang said: “I don’t think people will be excited being given leaflets,” adding that this is an explanation that is fit to be told to “little kids somewhere”.
“If there is a body which can actually look into this, they should – probably the Electoral Commission – because I know it is against the electoral laws that you should be giving out money and buying people’s votes. This thing should actually be looked into. … It is only a child who will believe that the president was not giving out money to these market women,” he told 3FM on Thursday September 22.
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