Selling conscience, monetization of politics very dangerous to our democracy - Dr. Asante

Story by: Nana Peprah



Dr. Kojo Punpuni Asante, coordinator for Citizens Coalition, has expressed worry over the rate at which people's conscience are bought to make electioneering decision. Describing the situation as a canker which is very dangerous to our democracy, Dr. Asante said it was time all Ghanaians consider the matter as a national challenge and started fighting against it.

He also expressed worry over how our political space has been monetized, adding that highest bidders who get the winning chance fail to render any proper account due to the fact that they bought the position.

He said, the situation keeps retarding development and it was time Ghanaians gave it a double thought by kicking against the practice.

According to him, most of these contestants who buy electorates' conscience, go for loans, and after they're given the nod, the next thing they do is to use dubious means to settle their debts. He said, there was the need for people to do proper calculations before falling for such mischievous moves.



He said this in an interview with the media during a stakeholder engagement on the state of Ghana's democratic elections.



The stakeholder engagement which was organised by the Coalition for Democratic Accountability and Inclusive Governance (Citizens Coalition) in collaboration with Coalition of Domestic Elections Observers (CODEO) with support from UNDP- Ghana, sought to have a national discussion forum to assess the preparedness of the upcoming local government elections in December, using that as a case study for the 2024 general elections.

Speaking to the media, Dr. Asante further expressed worry on the low participation of Ghanaians during the local government elections, citing the lack of developmental projects which the people are not benefiting as a major cause.

Expressing worry and stressing the need for women involvement in the local government elections, Dr. Asante said, it was time stakeholders collaborated to access the root cause of the problem.

Dr. Asante emphasized that the motive behind this stakeholders discussion was to share a collective idea and come up with measures as Ghana approaches it's 9th successive general elections in 2024.

Rev. Dr. Fred Dogbe, Co- Chair of CODEO, speaking on the theme "Assessing and Empowering Stakeholders for Credible and Peaceful Upcoming Elections in Ghana said, elections were for the benefits of all Ghanaians adding that it was the core mandate of CODEO to observe elections and see to it that all measures are being put in place to ensure there is a free, fair, credible and transparent elections for Ghanaians.

Rev. Dr. Dogbe continued that electoral process has been transparent with the new box being used by the electoral commission for voting, unlike the olden days.

He said it was very nice that modern polling and counting were all done at the polling stations for transparency sake adding that it was an indication there have been some improvements in the system which need to be sustained in our electoral process.