The Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency, James Gyakye Quayson, has refuted claims of distributing money during the Assin North by-elections held in June.

As the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the by-election, Quayson emerged victorious.

After the by-election on June 27, 2023, Quayson secured 17,245 votes, equivalent to 57.56 percent of the total votes, surpassing Charles Opoku from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Bernice Enyonam Sefenu from the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).

Opoku received 12,630 votes, representing 42.15 percent of the total, in the closely contested by-election, while Sefenu managed only 87 votes (0.29%).

Quayson, previously elected in the 2020 polls with 17,498 votes, was expelled from Parliament due to dual citizenship before filing nomination forms.

The Assin North seat was declared vacant following a Supreme Court order to remove Quayson's name from parliamentary records on May 17.

The court ruled that Quayson was ineligible to contest the 2020 parliamentary election for Assin North Constituency when he submitted his nomination forms on October 9, 2020.

Amid the by-election, accusations of vote-buying by both the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress surfaced.

However, in an interview with the media Quayson dismissed allegations that he offered money to voters to influence their votes.

According to Quayson, the items he distributed to voters were aimed at fulfilling their needs, noting that these needs had been expressed before the by-election.

He emphasized that these items, such as machetes for farming and weedicides, were not to be considered as vote buying.

Quayson clarified that his engagement with constituents had been limited for over a year due to restrictions, which were lifted for the by-election.

He highlighted that his distribution of items was based on a list of communities that required resources like boreholes and community centers. These items were intended to fulfill genuine needs and were previously identified by the constituents.

“I never gave out money for votes, if I gave anything, it was logistics geared towards the needs of the people. I gave out machetes for their farms and weedicides. I don’t call that vote buying. These are items I wish I could get for them, maybe the timing. If it’s the timing you are talking about, I don’t even think it’s a problem. Even last week, we got some Wellington boots and weedicides from the government’s Common Fund, and I went to distribute them. In fact, I just came back just yesterday.”

“We have to explain the process and how certain things happen. Consider an MP who has been restricted for over a year, 14 months to be precise. Until the time of the by-elections, April 2022 until June 2023. My engagement with them could even be perceived as breaching the law. Don’t carry yourself as an MP, and suddenly the opportunity avails itself, there was a by-election. The people had already expressed some of the things they needed, I will never give them what they don’t need”.

“I had a list of communities that needed boreholes, community centres and all the items they needed, so I focused on those lists. For the past 14 months, I couldn’t do it, and I said here is my list, this is what I can do for the people”.