The losing aspirant in the governing New Patriotic Party’s Tema East parliamentary race, Mr Benjamin Ashitey Armah, has said while he gave each of the 767 delegates that voted in the internal polls GH¢550, his main contender, the incumbent MP, Mr Daniel Titus-Glover, gave each delegate a tabletop fridge and GH¢1,000.
Mr Titus-Glover polled 522 votes to beat Mr Ashitey Armah, who got 233 votes out of a total ballot of 755.
Mr Armah told Kwame Appiah-Kubi on CTV’s Dwabre Mu morning show on Monday, 22 June 2020 that:
“I use the little resources I have to do my politics”, adding: “I was able to give each delegate GH¢550”.
“He [Titus-Glover] gave each delegate a tabletop fridge, GH¢1000 and even went the extra mile to give some delegates in my stronghold an extra GH¢500”, he alleged.
“So, you see the monecracy coming in here, which turned the tides in his favour contrary to the predictions of the office of National Security and other research organisations”, he added.
Asked how he got to raise the money to pay the delegates, Mr Ashitey Armah said:
“I have been in the shipping industry for a very long time and by the grace of God, I have my own business in the logistics field, so, I do everything according to my financial might”.
As far as he’s concerned,
“It is the delegates’ decision that they will go for money instead of competence”, adding: “These are the same delegates that always come to you to complain that things are not going on well with them and, so, they need some financial help”.
“We don’t use the money to entice the delegates”, he denied, explaining: “We just give them transport and compensate them for the opportunities they may have lost as a result of leaving their homes and jobs to come and vote for you”.
“So, it is just something to motivate them. That is the brain behind it. That is why some of us don’t want to go overboard and pay GH¢2,000 or GH¢1,500”.