Ghanaians consider commissioning, sod cutting by govt as vote buying - CDD-Ghana report

The commissioning and sod cutting of projects by the government in an election year is being considered as a form of vote-buying by the Ghanaian electorate.

According to a pre-election survey conducted by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), a majority of Ghanaians said they will be willing to take money from political parties but it will not in turn influence their votes.

A Director of Research at the Centre, Dr. Edem Selormey during the launch of the report on Friday, October 30, 2020, said further results show that cash transactions have overwhelmed and dominated vote-buying schemes in the upcoming 2020 polls.

“44 percent said they will take money offered and vote for the candidate of their choice while 33 percent said they will refuse the money offered and also vote for the candidate of their choice,” the report revealed.

Dr Edem Selorm added the results from the survey showed that 1 in 10 Ghanaians sampled have been offered money, food, and other gifts to influence their votes.

“Again, 70 percent who say they have been offered gifts in exchange for their votes have sighted the New Patriotic Party as the culprit followed by the National Democratic Congress while the rest are other political parties,” Dr Selorm said.

Meanwhile, the survey revealed that the governing NPP relishes a significant lead over the opposition NDC when it comes to public confidence in the ability to deliver on campaign promises.

Initiated in 2016, the CDD-Ghana pre-election survey was aimed at picking early warning signals by tracking citizens' opinion on the overall level of the country’s preparedness for elections; public confidence in the competence, integrity and neutrality of the election-relevant state and quasi-state bodies; and voter behaviour, expectations, priorities and potential turn-out.