Parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the Navrongo Central Constituency, Sampson Tangombu Chiragia has accused the Upper East Regional Minister, Tangoba Abayage of attempting to induce voters in the constituency with money and other valuables.
According to Mr. Tangombu Chiragia, Madam Abayage who is the Parliamentary candidate of the governing NPP for the constituency has resorted to sharing monies and distributing motorbikes as well as other valuable items to voters in the constituency in her bid to induce them to vote for her.
Mr. Chiragia , however, believes the Minister’s alleged attempts to unduly influence the electorates will not wash as he is convinced that the people of the constituency are discerning enough to reject such undue influences.
“She has money. I know we are giving her a very big margin even though she is trying to buy. She is giving money here and there, motorbikes, tailoring machines and everything but Navrongo is above that,” he said an interview with JoyNews.
The NDC parliamentary candidate who is confident of capturing the Navrongo seat in the upcoming elections said his experience in the politics of the constituency gives him an edge over the NPP parliamentary candidate.
He said, although Madam Abayage has access to enormous resources as result of a position as the Regional Minister and she is using to that to her advantage, she is inexperienced and lacks proper understanding of the needs of the constituents hence, his confidence of beating her in the December polls.
“I have been a Regional Youth Organizer; she has never been. I have campaign for parliamentary candidates for many years, she has never done that. I have been Constituency Youth Organizer. She just came as a Regional Minister and she is contesting me. I’m very old in terms of politics in this Constituency. I’m somebody everybody knows. Because she is a Regional Minister and she controls all resources in the region and because she is awarding contracts here and there (she thinks she can win),” he stated.
The 1992 Constitution of the country prohibits vote buying and other forms of electoral impropriety. However, there have been numerous reports of vote buying in the country’s body politics raising concerns among some politicians and political watchers.
Recent investigation by Corruption watch into the last parliamentary primaries of the NPP uncovered alleged incidents of vote buying in some Constituencies across the country.
Also, some defeated parliamentary aspirants in the last NDC’s parliamentary primaries attributed their defeat to alleged vote buying by their contenders.
