275 buses saga: Party investors always recoup their investments - Prof Asare

United States of America (USA) - based Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare has suggested that most individuals who sacrifice either money or time in aiding the growth of a political party, are always likely to expect some sort of reimbursement in cash or kind when their party comes to power.

Speaking on Citi TV’s, The point of View, Prof Asare making reference to the 275 buses bought for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) by National Chairman Frederick Worsemao Armah Blay, said, “here in Ghana, one person can get up and say I am writing a cheque for 10 million dollars to buy buses for a party.”

What do you expect that person to do when he gets the power. Is he some kind of philanthropist, throwing 10 million dollars away? I don’t think so. There would be that built-in mechanism for the person to recoup what he has put into the party.” he noted.

The strong opinionated legal practitioner explained that, although some individuals may genuinely contribute massively to the development of their various political parties, a select few invest it their parties with the intention of recouping all they lost.

He made reference to the system in the United States were individuals who want to invest in a political campaign are limited to the amount they can donate and encouraged the same practice in the country.

“I was at Koforidua but a lot of the action takes place before the events at Koforidua. We all saw and have heard what is going on with buses being bought for the party and so on.

I spent years of my life in the United States and I am very active in the politics over there, but there is a ceiling on how much an individual can contribute to party. I supported Obama in 2008, but I was only able to contribute 2400 dollars to his campaign, that is the maximum. Even if I wanted to contribute more, I couldn’t, “he said.

He advised, in order to control the upsurge of ‘political entrepreneurship’, transformational leadership was the way forward.

“We need transformational leadership. We need a leader who can see beyond the current, who can see beyond today. Who can think about future generations,” he mentioned.

The National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) prior to their delegates conference in Koforidua last week, purchased a number of 275 buses, believed to be over 10 million dollars.

Many since the vehicles arrived at the port have expressed disapproval of the buses.

While some accused Freddie Blay of ‘vote buying’, others questioned the source of his wealth and asked that he be investigated to ascertain his funding was nowhere near the nation’s confers.

In the wake of massive criticism, Freddie Blay in an interview on Joy News defended his buying those vehicles for his party and reportedly said the buses were meant for commercial purposes to reap profit.