An alleged leaked tape, purportedly containing a confession by an NPP (New Patriotic Party) Chairman for the Akim Oda Constituency, Ampaabeng Assimeng, has emerged.
Mr Assimeng in the said audio is heard admitting to plans involving the distribution of GHC600,000 to voters in the Assin North constituency.
The audio recording suggests that the funds were intended to sway voter allegiance in favor of the NPP during the crucial Assin North bye-election, however things did not not go as expected as the party executives at the local level could not identify trace the whereabout of the money or who the final recipients were, and the party eventually lost the elections as well.
“It [NPP’s Assin North defeat] was painful but it was expected because the money fell into the wrong hands. There has not been any accountability with regards to how much was spent, how much remained and nobody has anything to say about it.
“To be honest, leadership made us understand that GHC600,000 was disbursed to our four polling stations, but just look at the votes we had. ‘Asempa na ye’ is also one of the NPP’s strongholds. In previous elections NPP can garner 1,600 votes out of 2,000 while NDC gets only 400 but look at the [abysmal] outcome of these elections, and if this is how we are going to break the eight the God help us,” he is heard saying in the video.
The leaked confession confirms various allegations of vote buying which circulated during the by-election. There were wild reports of both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) engaging in vote buying during the election. However, there was little evidence to prove the claims.
During the election, a viral video circulating on social media captured an incident from the recently concluded Assin North by-election, where an Electoral Commission (EC) official is allegedly seen accepting a bribe from a political party to influence the election results.
The video depicts a perplexed electoral official seated alongside a fellow colleague, while they are being interrogated by an individual behind the camera and a police officer. In the background, the police officer can be heard instructing the official to hand over the alleged bribe money, saying, “Bring it.” Simultaneously, the person behind the camera is heard urging the official to give the money to the police officer, stating, “You give the money to him, give it to him.”
As the situation unfolds, the electoral official reaches into his pocket, retrieves a stack of banknotes, and hands it over to the police officer. The unidentified commentator remarks, “Sit down,” after the money has been handed over to the police.
The video, which was circulating on social media generated significant attention and concern among social media users.
A user by the name of Kwaku Wisdom commented “The formula is simple, keep the voters poor, induce them with peanuts to keep us in power to continually keep them poor…and the circle never ends until the voter becomes wise.”
