Engineer Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, a flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has strongly criticised the use of money to influence internal party elections, describing the practice as “offensive” and unacceptable.
Speaking to journalists after casting his ballot at the NPP headquarters at Asylum Down in Accra, Ing. Agyepong said he does not give money to delegates, stressing that such conduct undermines the essence of democracy.
“I don’t do that. I think it’s offensive for people to do that,” he said. “In any case, if you go and pay someone GH¢1,000 and another GH¢1,500, they still each have only one vote.”
He explained that the only form of support he offered delegates was transportation assistance to enable him meet them during the campaign period.
Quizzed on whether he had publicly spoken against the monetisation of democracy, Ing. Agyepong—who previously served as Press Secretary to former President John Agyekum Kufuor—said he had consistently condemned the practice.
“I have spoken against it several times—several times,” he stated.
A total of 211,849 delegates are voting in the NPP presidential primary, which is being conducted simultaneously at 333 polling centres nationwide to determine who leads the party into the upcoming general elections.
Five aspirants are contesting the party’s top position: former Vice President and 2024 presidential candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; former Assin Central Member of Parliament Kennedy Agyapong; former Minister of Education Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum; former Minister of Food and Agriculture Dr. Bryan Acheampong; and former General Secretary of the party Kwabena Agyepong.
On the acrimonious nature of the campaign, Ing. Agyepong expressed concern about the conduct of some of his fellow aspirants, noting that certain red lines were crossed during the contest.
He said he deliberately ran a calm and issue-based campaign, avoiding personal attacks and “dirty politics,” adding that this would make it easier for him to unite the party after the results are declared.
“When the results are declared, it would be easy for me to rally everyone together because I haven’t said anything vitriolic about anyone,” he said. “But we all know that in some cases, lines have been crossed. Let’s be honest.”
He stressed that with five candidates contesting, only one could emerge victorious, and therefore urged aspirants to conduct themselves with civility and restraint.
“At the end of the day, five cannot go into one,” he said. “People must be decorous and careful about what they say about others, because you never know who will win.”
Ing. Agyepong further emphasised the need for unity after the primaries to make the party attractive to Ghanaians and win political power for national development.
“When we win, we must be able to represent our party well and earn the respect and confidence of the Ghanaian people,” he said. “If you have lambasted your colleagues with unprintable words, how do you then sell the party to the people?”
He maintained that politics should not be about noise-making, sharing money, or distributing freebies, insisting that he ran the “cleanest and most issue-based campaign” among the aspirants.
“I am the only one who organised a policy day to outline my six-point plan for Ghana,” he noted, adding that the country needs serious, public-minded leaders to steer its affairs.
“That is what Ghana needs—not money politics,” he concluded.
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