Dr. Rasheed Draman, the Executive Director of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), has expressed deep disappointment with the widespread occurrence of vote-buying witnessed during the recently concluded parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He emphasized that these inducements have led to the departure of experienced legislators, potentially hindering the effectiveness of parliamentary proceedings.
Speaking in an interview, Dr. Draman warned political parties against engaging in such practices, stating that they not only undermine the functionality of the legislative body but also erode public confidence.
“I was not surprised that many of the incumbents lost. This is because when we had the list, which included people like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and others a few weeks ago, some of us thought that while a number of them must have been tired and wanted to move on and do different things, perhaps towards the end of their lives, a number of them were pushed because perhaps they foresaw the competition that was coming, the role of money in particular. So they decided that rather than even wait and get embarrassed, let me just voluntarily exit. Money played a significant role during the [NPP] polls on Saturday,” remarked Dr. Draman.
“Unfortunately, this is certainly setting a dangerous trend for our democracy, and I don’t know how we got here. But if this is not stopped, we will wake up someday and every election cycle we are going to have, we will get a completely new Parliament,” he added.
