Apaak Asks: Can we trust NPP to fight corruption?

Dr Clement Apaak, a presidential staffer says it is worrisome to have leaders in the country who think money can be used to influence an election.

According to him, it is dangerous to have a chairman of a political party ask his members to use money to buy votes from delegates; adding it can cause people to engage in dubious acts just to raise the amount of money needed to win an election.

New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey says candidates in the ongoing elections are free to use money to influence delegates if they have it because in politics, money is a gift.

The party chairman was responding to an allegation that candidates in the various regions were building houses and giving out huge amounts of money to delegates electing the party’s Regional Executives.

Commenting on the issue, Dr Apaak said on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji that there are serious implications to what the chairman of the main opposition party said.

“We are in danger of having drug money and other ill-gotten wealth being used to sponsor political candidates who will hijack this republic; and that is a real and present danger. When you have a party chairman who should come out and condemn any act or any intent to use money to influence the outcome of an election, I find it extremely worrying, especially when you juxtapose it to the accusation of corruption being leveled by a financier of their own party against the executives…

…it makes you wonder whether truly the NPP, as a political entity, can ever be trusted to deal fairly with the good people of Ghana in terms of taking good care of our resources. He has raised very fundamental questions that we have to probe…” he suggested.