Bawumia didn’t win fair and square, this is fraud – Dr. Amoako Baah

Political Scientist, Dr Richard Amoako Baah has described the victory of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the just-ended New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primaries as a fraud.

The Vice President had raked in 61.43% of all votes cast at the primaries, followed closely by his contender, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the Assin Central MP with 31.41%.

According to Dr. Baah, the vice president had earned his victory through dubious means and is thus not fit to lead the party.

He accused President Akufo-Addo of cajoling the rank and file of the party and government to support the candidacy of Dr. Bawumia.

“There are two ways of cheating in an election, you rig the election through the electoral commissioner mechanism or you do what they did. What they did, what the party did with the active support of the president is not necessarily illegal, but it is not appropriate because if we continue on that path eventually, it becomes a dictatorship,” he said on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.

He added that the vice president had actively engaged in vote-buying leading to his victory.

“The delegates were behind Bawumia because they were promised money. In fact, after such an event as this the conversation should be that this candidate we’ve picked is very able and we’re going to rally behind him. That is not the conversation we’re having here.

“The delegates are complaining, they didn’t get enough money. Bawumia paid 400, Kennedy paid 300 so they say it’s not enough because some of the party chairmen got 1.2 million, that’s what they’re talking about,” he said.

According to Dr. Amoako Baah, for the above reasons the race was not a fair one.

“[Bawumia] didn’t win fair and square, this is fraud. How can the party against all the others pick this one and support him with money, everything, incumbency advantage,” he said on November 6.

He added that despite all the inappropriate activities that had been carried out to ensure Dr. Bawumia’s victory, his 61.43% mark in the primaries was sorely underwhelming.

“If you run a fair race and you get 61%, you’ve done very well especially in this case when you have ten candidates to stand. But all things are not equal. This is money. Who had the most money gets to win. Bawumia had the most money so he won.

“Okay Kennedy also bought some of the votes, he paid money. I won’t say only Bawumia paid money, Kennedy also paid money. But Bawumia had money and the arm of the government behind him and still got 61%. That is not good at all. When you have such a situation, you should see numbers above 85-95%,” he said.

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