The Parliamentary candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the just-ended bye-election of Kumawu constituency, Kwasi Amankwaa, has opened up on how vote buying by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) affected his chances to win the poll.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Mr Amankwaa said in NPP’s attempt to retain the seat, an amount of GH₵50.00 was distributed to electorate in the bid to get their votes.
He revealed that, this illegal act, encouraged some young people in the constituency to demand for cash from him if he wanted their vote.
According to Mr Amankwaa, these young individuals who consist of tertiary students wanted to sell their vote to the highest bidder.
“I met a few of these young people. There is a town called Banko in Kumawu and about six university students came up to me and said, ‘These people are giving money, we want to vote for you, can you match the amount they are giving to us?’
“And I said, ‘I can give you more than what they are giving you but my conscience will not allow me to do that’,” he told Aysha Ibrahim on Tuesday.
He indicated that the action of the tertiary students saddened him.
“This is the future that we are looking at. Our future leaders are willing to sell their future for 50 cedis,” he stressed.
The NPP successfully retained the seat in the Kumawu constituency.
NPP’s Ernest Yaw Anim polled 15,264 votes representing 70.91% whereas candidate Kwasi Amankwaa, came a distant second with 3,727 votes or 17.29 percent.
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