The Member of Parliament (MP) for Jirapa, Cletus Seidu Dapilah, has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of monetizing their parliamentary primaries.
He said the situation was worrying because some candidates were paying delegates as much as GH¢10,000 while others were paying delegates in dollars.
Delegates of the NPP are currently at various polling centres to cast their votes in the party’s parliamentary primaries in its orphan constituencies nationwide.
Voting at the various polling centres started at 7 am, while voting commenced in other centres at 7:45 am, with delegates queued to elect the various candidates.
Speaking on the Big Issue on Citi TV on Saturday, the Jirapa MP admitted that though all parties including his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) gave delegates some money to use as transportation fares, the NPP’s was extreme.
“For me, what worries me is the monetisation of parliamentary primaries, particularly within the NPP. We don’t get to that level…Democracy is expensive, you can’t do it by spending money. But the level at which we are doing it, particularly the NPP. In parliamentary primaries, you have some candidates paying as much as 10, 000 per delegate. Some say they are going to pay dollars.”
“If you are to research about it, you will find that though both parties (NPP and NDC) engage in that, one (NPP) does it in the extreme,” he stated.
Mr. Dapilah’s comments come as the NPP holds its parliamentary primaries today.