Drug money will find its way into our democracy if we don’t stop vote buying – ACEPA boss

The Executive Director of the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr Rasheed Draman, has reiterated the need for the growing phenomenon of vote buying to be curbed.

He has cautioned that if this is not done, money from illegal sources will be used by individuals to fund parliamentary elections.

“Our democracy is going to be for the highest bidder. Then we get into a situation where may be, drug moneys from all kinds of illegitimate sources find their way into our democratic system. And the national security implication of this will be very huge,” he said in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on Monday January 29 edition of Ghana Tonight.

He added that, “If nothing is done, I think in the next two cycles of our election, we are going to have a big crisis on our hands. Because, those who have money are going to line up to go into parliament. It is going to be like a buffet and experienced MPs who don’t have fat wallets are going to continue to get pushed out. That’s not going to be good for our democracy and even the national security implication of that.

All these people who have money and are pushing experienced MPs out, where are they getting the money from? Who is funding them? What is the interest of all these people who are providing them with funding? We need to interrogate all these and the implications of that on the quality of our democracy.”

Dr Draman lamented that the consequence of this phenomenon could be dire, if not addressed.

“I can tell you on authority that some of the people who have decided not to contest, some of them lament that those who have come with big moneys to replace them, are people who perhaps are ill-prepared, with very little or no education to go into parliament. You get them in there, and certainly quality is going to be affected.

If you look at the situation where new MPs when they come into the house, we have a lot of struggles, sometimes for the Speaker to have a quorum. People come in there, they get busy with other business, except the business of the House. You add that to a situation where we don’t have the kind of regular induction and preparation for new entrants into Parliament, it becomes complicated,” he explained.