Prime News Ghana

There's no doubt outboard motors distribution was vote buying - Nana Addo Spokesperson

By Jeffrey Owusu-Mensah
Shares
facebook sharing button Share
twitter sharing button Tweet
email sharing button Email
sharethis sharing button Share

Mustapha Hamid, Spokesperson for New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has challenged claims by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the recent distribution of outboard motors to fishermen in the Western Region was not vote buying.

Anti-corruption group, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) on Wednesday criticised  the donation saying it worse than vote buying because it was an abuse of incumbency.

According to Executive Director of GII, Linda Ofori Kwafo, “If the president told the whole nation that he is embarking on a campaign, then how on earth is the party using state resources to buy such gifts which the woman referred to as donations".

Her comment came on the heels of NDC Campaign Spokesperson, Mrs Joyce Bawa Mogtari's admission that the outboard motors were purchased with state funds and distributed by Mahama in his capacity as president and not as a candidate.

Speaking on Joy FM's news analysis programme, Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Hamid said since the NDC made it clear that the trip to the Western Region was a campaign trip, there was no doubt that the distribution of the outboard motors was to influence voters.

According to him, "The NDC has a mindset that says to impoverish the people" so they can influence them during elections.

That is why "the president is going around blatantly distributing goodies to buy votes", he said adding that the fact that the president wore an NDC t-shirt was enough evidence of the intent of the donation.

"If people came in other party colours, they wouldn't have been given the goodies because they aren't NDC", Mr Hamid stated.

But in a reaction, Abraham Amaliba, a member of the NDC stated that President Mahama did no wrong by responding to a duty call while campaigning in the Western Region.

"The president has given outboard motors in the past. Why was he not accused of vote buying then?", Mr Amaliba quizzed.

 

Â