Former President John Mahama has condemned the vote inducement ploy orchestrated by the New Patriotic Party that riddled the Special Voting exercise at the University of Ghana campus on Monday.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader said he expected the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West-Wuogon, Lydia Alhassan to know better than sanction such a move that flagrantly flouted the country’s electoral laws.
During the Special Voting exercise a few days, some aides to the MP were captured in widely circulated videos, distributing items to voters who were in line to cast their ballot. The MP, who spoke to the media denied any part in it although she was present while the packages in polythene bags were being shared.
Her main contender and Parliamentary Candidate on the ticket of the NDC, John Dumelo subsequently reported the incident to the Office of Special Prosecutor for further probe.
Weighing in on the development, Mr. Mahama reminded rally attendees that it was a violation of the law to share any items to influence voters. He also criticized the practice in which voters take photographs of their thumb-printed ballots in the voting booth.
“It’s never allowed,” Mr. Mahama said of the practice. “There should be investigations into it. Those who also took pictures of their thumb-printed ballots offended the law. It is not permitted under the law. So when you share photos of how you voted, you might land yourself in trouble,” former President Mahama said at a mini rally in the Manso Nkwanta constituency as part of his campaign tour of the Ashanti Region,
He told his listeners that the money that was being shared was the “blood and toil” of voters, therefore, there were within their rights to take the money to vote their conscience.
