With just 48 hours to go to the polls, the Parliamentary Candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper Denkyira East Constituency in the Central Region, Ms. Emelia Ankomah, has urged the electorate to be cautious of monetary and enticing packages by candidates who will try to buy votes during the December 7 elections.

According to the former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly, such a practice could lead to underdevelopment and compromise accountable governance, especially at the constituency level.

She said the electorate should rather focus on candidates who had the potential to develop the constituency through massive infrastructural installations than to succumb to the practice of selling their votes.

“We have a practice whereby a day or two to the elections or even the dawn of the election day, people just go about giving money to the electorate to entice them to vote for them. You should know that they have bought your vote, so for the next four years, you should know that you are not going to enjoy any development from them,” Ms. Ankomah stated.

“If we truly want to benefit and enjoy infrastructure, then we should vote for people who are ready to provide us with infrastructure rather than just succumbing to the practice of vote-buying and be influenced by those who are just giving out money to entice the electorate to vote for them,” Ms. Ankomah said in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra after graduating from the Wisconsin International University College (WIUC) with first-class honours in Bachelor of Law (LLB).

The former MCE noted that although her constituency used to be a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), because of the infrastructural development projects executed by the NDC, particularly in terms of electricity, when the party was in power, the direction of the electorate was now on development rather than voting in one direction.

“We are winning this time around because my people are more conscious of candidates with good development projects than voting in one direction, and they believe I am the best candidate for the constituency,” she stated.

To that end, Ms. Ankomah appealed to the electorate to guard against attempts by candidates to induce them with money in order to secure their votes.

Peaceful elections

Ms. Ankomah observed that the country had enjoyed successful elections under the Fourth Republic, hence the need for Ghanaians to ensure that the 2020 general elections, just like the preceding ones, were also successful.

She further called on the youth to avoid being used by politicians to perpetrate and foment trouble on election day.

“Ghana is a peaceful country and I am giving this advice to everybody, especially the youth, not to allow themselves to be used by politicians to create any disturbances.