The negative spectre of vote-buying in our political architecture, though a reality, is yet to receive the robust reversal procedures from stakeholders.
As a feature of our democracy, unfortunately, it has made the occupation of competitive politics a preserve of the rich, an exclusion zone for the non-wealthy yet endowed with game-changing ideas and the passion for service to God and country. Those who are not rich enough to organise motorbike donations yet want to venture into this expensive occupation can only turn to borrowing money to be part of the equation.
Members of Parliament (MPs) often complain about the House of Parliament not being as promising as it looks when it comes to making money, yet they go to all lengths to retain their seats or even join the august arm of government.
We are tempted to question the motivation which drives people to part with so much money to venture into politics in its current form.
While they try to convince the electorate to vote for them, let them not buy votes just so we can protect the integrity of elections.
Democracy, although expensive, the balance sheet should not include vote-buying; all should join in ensuring that we exclude vote-buying from our elections.
The high cost of seeking elective office under democracies entails a lot, which are all money consuming.
What should not be entertained however is vote-buying, because besides other factors, it opens the way for unqualified persons with questionable backgrounds to buy their way to Parliament or even the Presidency.
On Tuesday, constituents of the Ayawaso East Constituency in the Greater Accra Region went to the polls. The by-election posted an unusual feature which has caught the attention of many observers of local politics.
There was such a low turnout of voters that we could not but ask what accounted for the non-participation of the over 40,000 registered voters in the constituency.
The euphoria which characterised the primary election in the constituency when contenders fell over each other to win the hearts of voters was relatively absent during the main by-election.
Voters in the constituency, like others across the country, have become so money-conscious that dissecting policies or even finding out more about politicians seeking their votes don’t matter.
With more goodies at the disposal of contenders during the primary, same was relatively small during the by-election last Tuesday, hence the seeming indifference.
Stakeholders in the country’s democratic process should be worried about vote-buying and seek means of reversing it, because that is the only way to arrest the diminishing integrity of elections in the country.
It took the wanton and unprecedented dissipation of resources to voters by contenders at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Ayawaso East Constituency primary – from motorbikes and cash to flat screen television sets – in broad daylight under cameras, for the nation to cry out about vote-buying.
It was a rare opportunity which presented itself for us as a nation to gird our loins to deal with the canker a final onslaught.
The NDC announced an action after acknowledging the anomaly. It turned out to be hot air with nothing productive originating from the so-called committee of enquiry set up to probe the electoral anomaly.
