Delegates now bold to flaunt monies given them during elections - Collins Adumako-Mensah expresses worry

The Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, Collins Adumako-Mensah, has expressed worry at the rate at which delegates demand money from politicians before they vote for them in elections of any kind.

According to him, these delegates have become bold such that they flaunt the monies given them during elections, to the media.

To him, the increasing normalisation of this practice has potential consequences for the political landscape.

“Nowadays, the delegates are bold to display the envelopes that have been given to them to the media. We are getting to a stage where the issue of corruption is becoming normal. 'Give me money and I vote for you.' I watched him in the La Dade-Kotopon Area and he was showing the media man where he got all the envelopes from the various MPs. Some candidates even went further to print their names on the envelope to indicate that this particular one is coming from me.

“It is a big problem and it is good we are having a discussion about it. I get worried as a politician of my age, how much I am going to pay in the next four years if I want to stay in the game. How much am I going to gather if I want to come back to parliament?” he asked in an interview on Joy News on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, and monitored by GhanaWeb.

Adumako-Mensah also cited his own experiences, revealing the staggering number of requests he receives from candidates contesting in district assembly elections, all seeking financial assistance.

He emphasised the urgency for both leading political parties to engage in frank discussions on the future of political financing.

“The number of requests I have received from candidates contesting for the district assembly elections, you will be amazed. I get calls everyday. Interestingly, our election is in January and you have some of our delegates contesting now, and they are basically telling you to help them now so they can also help you later. So, it's a very difficult situation and I think both political parties must sit and have very frank discussions on the way forward for our politics.

“I fear sometimes that it is just not sustainable. It will get to a state that if we are not careful, the calibre of people who will get to parliament. If you don't have money, no matter your intellectual capacity, you can't enter parliament,” he added.

He continued that: “I have my elections in January and I don't even want to discuss how I intend to prosecute those elections in a month's time. I spoke to some elderly people and he screamed at me and asked what I was going to use the money for.”

Expressing similar sentiments, the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, asucknowledged the need for a deeper conversation on the issue.

He stressed the importance of establishing a consensus on the financial demands of political campaigns and the subsequent regulation of campaign expenditures.

“It is important that we have these discussions but I think that we do not make the conversation deep enough. I think that we all know what the problem is but we pretend about it. First of all, there is the need for all of us to agree and establish a point that every campaign of whatever nature or form is expensive to carry out, bring it media, advocacy or a campaign of any kind, it's going to cost money. Even religious bodies spend money on the various campaigns and crusades they organise. So we need to establish that campaign of any kind, we need money. Once that is done, then we get into politics and we ask ourselves how much is too much when you are prosecuting a political campaign.

“So, when we find an answer to how much is too much, then we can begin to legislate how much should be paid and also provide transparent ways of raising the funds and accounting for the funds. That for me is how to deal with the possible corruption related to political campaign” he also stated.

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