A Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, says that the ‘white envelope’ incident at the Ejisu elections was unfortunate, inappropriate and poorly timed.
This comment comes after the MP, Prof. Kingsley Nyarko was caught on camera handing an envelope suspected to contain cash to some Electoral Commission (EC) officials at a polling centre during the ongoing by-election at Ejisu.
In a viral video trending on social media, Mr Nyarko was seen surreptitiously pulling the white envelope from his pocket and placing it on the table in front of the EC officials.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Pulse on April 30, Dr Asah-Asante stated that, regardless of the MP’s intentions, the timing of the envelope was inappropriate and could be interpreted as an attempt to sway the elections.
“Pulling out a thing of that sort at that moment is totally wrong even if there is no intention of influencing anybody. Because you see, for elections to be free and fair, you should not doubt the process because anything will create doubt, I think my good friend knows better.”
“So he should have acted very well. Even if it was something else. It was not money. It was nothing. You shouldn’t have pulled that thing out there. Anything that will raise an eyebrow will obviously undermine the electoral process,” he said.
Meanwhile, the EC has said it is looking into the incident and has withdrawn the two temporary staff involved.
According to the EC, it will make public its findings as it investigates the two.
Despite the concerns raised by the envelope incident, Dr Asah-Asante commended the peaceful nature of the Ejisu elections and stated that all elections should be conducted in that manner.
“I think that the elections have been smooth but this is a very unfortunate incident. This has been a peaceful election so we don’t expect anything to come in to affect the situation,” he said.