Former Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways who is also a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ejisu constituency has disclosed that he paid GHC5,000 to each of the 600 New Patriotic Party delegates during the 2020 parliamentary primary but lost painfully.
According to Kwabena Owusu Aduomi, despite his loss after the huge non-refundable bribe paid to the delegates to influence their votes in his favour, he takes consolation in the fact that politics is “a game for the brave”.
“I paid a lot of money during the primaries. I paid 5,000 cedis to each of the 600 delegates but I lost the election.
“Let me tell you this, politics is very expensive. That huge amount I paid was just for endorsement of my candidature. It’s a game for the brave,” Kwabena Owusu Aduomi is quoted as having told a Kumasi-based radio station.
He lost the Ejisu seat in the 2020 NPP parliamentary primaries to John Kumah who polled 397 votes representing 55.99% as against his 307 votes, representing 43.30%.
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Meanwhile, the disclosure has incurred the wrath of US-based Ghanaian legal luminary, professor Kwaku Asare who referred to it as the source of the unbridled corruption that has characterized Ghanaian politics.
“A former primary candidate has confessed that he paid ?5,000 to each of the 600 delegates in the most recent NPP primary. That is, ?3M or approximately $500k just in “enticement fee” (e-fee).
“That the confession does not come as a surprise or attract the interest of law enforcement shows the extent to which we have allowed money to comorosify our politics.
“We can blame the Constitution, prophesy, Milo, etc. for our woes but the reality is that our problems start with the corruption of our politics.
“We cannot expect politicians who pay e-fees to govern with accountability, probity, and transparency.
As the good book reminds us, those who come to power through comorosification will surely comorosify the national treasury,” professor Asare wrote on his Facebook page in reaction to Kwabena Owusu Aduomi’s revelation.
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