I don’t see anything wrong with paying delegates to facilitate their movement – Deputy Speaker

The 1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has affirmed that some delegates of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) were paid money during the party’s presidential primaries.

Speaking in a Metro TV interview, on November 10, 2023, Joseph Osei-Owusu, also known as Joe Wise, said that even though he did not receive any of such monies, there is nothing wrong with it being given to delegates.

He explained that because some of the delegates live very far from the voting centres, it is important that they are given something to facilitate their transportation.

“… I’m a delegate, nobody gave me money. It is true that some were given money. Because my constituency has 116 towns and villages. Some come as far as 30 kilometres away.

“Is it fair to ask him to bring his own means of transport to vote and go back? So, yes, some do get paid money to facilitate their movement back from the voting centres.

“Because the voting centre was at Bekwei, somebody is coming from Ntiraku, somebody is coming from Amanshia, somebody is coming from beyond Sanfi, sometimes they have to change vehicles once or twice. So, I don’t see anything wrong at all with facilitating the movement of these people to come and vote and go back,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, veteran journalist and managing editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has expressed shock about the amount of money that was spent during the presidential primaries of the running New Patriotic Party (NPP), on November 4, 2023.

Speaking during a panel discussion on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme, on October 8, 2023, Pratt Jnr said that he has never seen the kind of money that was spent during the the November 4th primaries in any internal election in Ghana.

He added that the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, alone spent over GH¢100 million to get himself elected.

“This is about the most expensive political primaries that I have seen in my life, the most expensive! Conservative estimates based on fact indicate that Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia or his team must have spent over GH¢100 million on this election.

“… all of us saw delegates complaining on live television that they have been given GH¢400, you (the NPP) told us you heard 208,000 delegates. If you multiply that by 400, how much do you get? That alone gives you GH¢83.2 million – that is just the GH¢400 distributed on that day,” he said.

The veteran journalist added, “It has never happened in the history of this country”.

About the NPP primaries:

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was elected flagbearer of the NPP on Saturday in an election that saw close to 200,000 delegates vote to choose between four candidates.

The vice president polled 61.47% of the total votes, beating Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, Francis Addai-Nimoh, and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto to become the NPP’s presidential candidate for the 2024 polls.

Watch the interview in the video below:

There's nothing wrong with giving delegates money to facilitate movement during elections - Joe Wise#MetroNews pic.twitter.com/dWtELb3wgX

— Metro TV Ghana (@metrotvgh) November 10, 2023