Politics of Saturday, 19 September 2020

Source: 3news.com

NDC, NPP buy leadership of smaller parties to weaken them – Presidential Candidate

Presidential Candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah Presidential Candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been accused of deliberately taking actions to weaken the smaller parties in Ghana and make them insignificant in elections.

Two-time Presidential Candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah, popularly known as JOY 2012, alleged on The Key Points programme Saturday, September 19 that the leadership of the smaller parties are mostly bought by the NDC and the NPP, especially when elections are approaching, a situation, he said, makes them insignificant in the conduct of any elections whether at the presidential or the parliamentary level.

He stated that this development must stop if Ghanaians actually deserve a third force to match up to the two major parties.

“Vote buying is keen. The moment you see the National Chairman of a minor political party fighting with the flagbearer then, you could say that the NPP might have bought the National Chairman and then the NDC might have bought the flagbearer,” he alleged.

For his part, Hassan Ayariga, the Founder and Leader of the All People’s Congress (APC), also said the NPP and the NDC have over the years engaged in vote buying because they are resourceful.

He noted that this situation has blocked the minority parties in Ghana from becoming a third force in Ghana’s elections as they are unable to raise resources to the level of the two leading parties.

“The major political parties go into vote buying. That is the biggest challenge. There is so much vote buying and the vote buying cut across the political parties leaders.”