Kumawu By-election: NDC candidate accuses NPP of vote buying

Correspondence from Ashanti Region

Akwasi Amankwa, the NDC parliamentary candidate for the Kumawu by-election, has alleged that the NPP is using illegal strategies to gain votes.

According to him, an observation made after a series of visits to the various polling stations has uncovered how some NPP executives were sharing monies to electorates at the polling centers.

Notwithstanding that, he said, most of these electorates after receiving the monies are being followed by the agents into the election box under the pretext that they are disabled.

"After sharing the monies, they follow most of these people to the election boxes, holding their hands with some flimsy excuses. The next thing they will tell you is that they are helping them to vote because they are sick or something like that. I have informed both the police and the EC about this development," he alleged.

According to him, one guy he approached after being supported in such an instance told him he is not mentally sound and that is why the NPP agents supported him.

"I was shocked when this guy told me he's not mentally sound. How can someone with a mental problem come to an election center to cast a vote. You can't use this evil strategy to rig election and claim yourself a winner," he bemoaned.

He has therefore urged all stakeholders to make sure the election is free, fair and just so that there will be peace.

Meanwhile, the NPP's parliamentary candidate, Ernest Yaw Anin who reacted to the allegations said it was a mere fallacy by his opponent who has no message after finding out that he had lost already.

Commenting on the strategies being used by the NPP to win the election, he said, the NDC candidate can equally use such strategies if he so wishes.

"If you see me picking the aged with a taxi because they can't walk, you can also use a taxi to pick them," he said.