The African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) Executive Director, Dr. Rasheed Draman, has expressed his deep disgust with the pervasiveness of vote-buying that was evident in the recently concluded New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primaries.

He stressed that these incentives have caused competent lawmakers to leave the legislature, which could impede legislative processes.

Dr. Draman warned political parties against engaging in these activities in an interview with Citi News, claiming that they damage public trust and reduce the legislative body’s efficacy.

“I was not surprised that many of the incumbents lost. This is because when we had the list, which included people like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and others a few weeks ago, some of us thought that while a number of them must have been tired and wanted to move on and do different things, perhaps towards the end of their lives, a number of them were pushed because perhaps they foresaw the competition that was coming, the role of money in particular. So they decided that rather than even wait and get embarrassed, let me just voluntarily exit. Money played a significant role during the [NPP] polls on Saturday.”

“Unfortunately, this is certainly setting a dangerous trend for our democracy, and I don’t know how we got here. But if this is not stopped, we will wake up someday and every election cycle we are going to have, we will get a completely new Parliament,” he said.