The Member of Parliament for the Subin constituency in the Ashanti region, Eugene Boakye Antwi, has alleged that President Akufo-Addo and NPP hopeful, Alan Kyerematen, engaged in vote buying during the 2007 NPP congress.
He revealed the breakdown of monies paid by top politicians of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) during two consecutive congresses.
The MP specifically cited the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2007 presidential primaries held at the University of Ghana, Legon as well as the 2010 round-off primaries of the party.
According to him, most of the contestants tried to influence the election outcome by using money, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
The MP mentioned some of the key contenders in that election, including Alan Kyerematen, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, among others, alleging that all of them paid huge sums of money to try and sway the election in their favour, however, despite their financial clout, they all lost to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who emerged as the winner in all the two consecutive congresses.
Speaking in an interview with Hello FM on April 20, 2023, he disclosed that during the 2007 NPP congress, the then-flagbearer of the party, now the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, paid three hundred Ghana cedis, in comparison, five other candidates, including Alan Kyerematen, paid five hundred Ghana cedis each.
With respect to the 2010 congress, where Nana Addo went up against Alan Kyerematen, Eugene Boakye Antwi revealed that Nana Addo paid five Ghana cedis, while Alan Kyerematen paid four times that amount, twenty Ghana cedis.
“2007, among the seventeen people who stood for the election, I was Nana Addo Dankwa’s polling Agent at Legon, but about 5 people paid more than Nana Akufo-Addo, Nana Akufo-Addo paid GHS 300.00 and about five people paid five hundred but they didn’t vote for them.
“…let’s go back again, 2010 primaries, Nana Addo and Alan Kyerematen round two, Nana Addo paid GHS 5.00 and Alan Kyerematen paid GHS 20.00, he paid GHS 5.00 and Alan Kyerematen paid four times of it that is GHS 20.00 but the delegates voted for Nana Addo. So is not all about the money,” he said.
His revelations come at a time when there are growing concerns about the role of money in Ghanaian politics and allegations of vote-buying in the party’s upcoming primaries as some party stalwarts and flagbearer hopeful has hinted at displaying cash during the election.