Ghanaian-American theologian and philanthropist, Archbishop Kofi Adonteng Boateng, has urged Ghanaians to refrain from accepting money from political candidates in exchange for votes.
He emphasized that the nation’s issues, such as economic challenges and power outages (dumsor), will persist if leaders are not elected through fair means.
In an interview with Ghanaian blogger, Zionfelix, he described a scenario where a politician who spends a large sum of money to secure votes would likely recoup that investment by inflating project budgets once in power.
The Archbishop called for a law to be enacted that bars vote-buying to address this problem.
“People should not accept money from politicians to vote; otherwise, Ghana will never thrive, and ‘dumsor’ will continue. If I aim to become president and distribute about $500 billion, once in office, I must recover that money. For instance, if there’s a road construction budget, I would divide it by six, keep five parts, and allocate one part to the actual project.
“And then we will remain in a state of hardship. The nation should enact a law that prohibits vote-buying during elections. When vote-buying occurs, it corrupts the election. Therefore, citizens should heed the messages of political candidates and vote conscientiously,” Archbishop Adonteng stated.
The clergyman’s comments were in reference to the upcoming 2024 elections and their potential impact on the nation, depending on the electoral outcome.
The general elections are scheduled for December 7, 2024.