President John Mahama and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia have been accused of vote buying in the lead-up to the December 7 elections, in a report by anti-graft body Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).
The GII said in its report titled: ‘Reducing Abuse of Incumbency and Electoral Corruption in Ghana’s Election 2016’ that while the vice-presidential nominee of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Bawumia’s borehole gift to the Amedzofe College of Education (AMECO) in June was a “last minute” move “aimed at securing votes”, while Mr Mahama’s distribution of outboard motors to fishermen during his campaign tour of the Western Region in August amounted to same.
“On August 16, 2016, during President John Mahama’s publicly announced four-day campaign tour of the Western Region, outboard motors and pans were distributed to fishermen in Sekondi,” it said.
“On 17th August, 2016, the spokesperson of the NDC campaign, Mrs Joyce Bawah-Mogtari, indicated…that the distribution of outboard motors were part of an ongoing government intervention.
“She stated that the items were purchased with state funds. The coalition officially considers this particular incident as unfortunate and a demonstration of the incumbent government engaging in acts that constitute abuse of incumbency.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
