A study conducted by the Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD), has revealed that 84 percent of Ghanaians voters make their choices during election based on how they can directly benefit from a particular candidate.
The report said Ghanaians are not necessarily bothered about the ability of the candidates to attract development projects to the constituencies.
These findings are from a research conducted in some 10 constituencies with high incidence of poverty; including the Akan Constituency in the Volta Region, Bosome Freho in the Ashanti Region and Odododiodio in the Greater Accra Region; aimed at examining expectations, preferences, and behavior of Ghanaian voters towards their MPs during elections.
Bicycle promise
There have been some clear instances where politicians promised to make some provisions for voters in a bid to influence them to endorse their candidature.
Alan Kyeremanten , while vying for the flagbearer position of the NPP in 2014 promised party delegates in the Volta Region, bicycles and other goodies if they elect him for the position.
“This time, if you make Alan your flagbearer, I will ensure that every executive, from polling station to coordinator to constituency will have the means of transport either bicycle or motorbike.
“Your bicycle will be registered in your personal name so that even when you are not an executive you can take it home as your reward for working for the party.”
The CDD emphasized the need for continuous voter education to address this development.
Vote-buying common in Ghana’s elections
In Ghana, what has become known as vote-buying is very common both in national and internal party elections. Due to extreme poverty and other factors, some voters are willing to trade their future and that of the country for paltry sums and items both perishable and non-perishable.
Pieces of cloth, cutlasses, bags of rice, cooking oil and the likes, are some of the items often distributed to destitute and sometimes uneducated voters.
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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/citifmonline.com/Ghana