Claims of vote-buying, others ridiculous lies by my opponents – Bawumia

Frontrunner in the flagbearership contest of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has accused his opponents of adopting a smear campaign against him as defeat stares them in the face.

He stated that his opponents have resorted to attacking his person and spreading lies about him as they struggle to convince delegates to their side and as the party is set to make history by electing him as flagbearer and winning a third straight presidential term ( i.e., break the eight).

The Vice President pointed out three examples of such lies and denied, explaining that it was important to not allow the lies to take root.

He lamented that his opponents are hellbent on spreading lies about him and causing disunity in the party, describing their ‘strategy’ as an “if you miss the ball, don’t miss the man”.

Speaking to NPP delegates at as part of his tour of the Northern on Tuesday, Dr Bawumia denied bribing constituency chairmen of the party with a hundred thousand Ghana Cedis and a pickup truck each prior to the party Super Delegates Conference.

He also denied claims that he had planned to prevent polling station executives and electoral area coordinators from voting in future presidential primaries as well as allegations that he wants to ensure that all sitting NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) go unopposed.

“They say I have given all constituency chairmen 275 constituency chairmen, a hundred thousand Ghana Cedis and a pick up. Have you seen any pick up here for your chairman? This is just a ridiculous lie. Then they say I will not allow, in the future, polling station executives and electoral area coordinators to vote in presidential elections. I mean how can this happen? It’s not possible for me to stop polling station executive and electoral area coordinators from voting. This was a National Conference decision. And I was very supportive of expanding the electoral college to allow polling station executives and electoral area coordinators to vote. And by the grace of God they will continue to vote…That lie must be put to rest.

The third lie that I have heard this morning is that I want to say that all sitting MPs should go unopposed; that nobody should contest a sitting MP. How can I say that? The party constitution cannot even allow that. This party is stronger when we have democracy working. And so I will never say any sitting MP must go unopposed. There must be consensus in any constituency. And so that lie should be ‘left alone,”” he explained.

Even though the Vice President did not mention any name, his fiercest contender in the race Kennedy Agyapong appears to be the target. Mr Agyapong is the one so labelling the vote-buying accusation against him.

The NPP has set November 4, 2023 to elect a flagbearer for the 2024 Presidential Elections. Dr Bawumia won the Super Delegates Conference election convincingly, and is expected to win the election.