Mustapha Gbande, Deputy Secretary General of the NDC
Deputy Secretary General of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has vowed that the party will jail the Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Professor Kingsley Nyarko, for allegedly bribing electoral officials during the Ejisu by-election.
According to him, if the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to which he belongs refuses to jail him, the NDC will take action if it comes to power.
“During the Ejisu by-election, Senator Kingsley Nyarko was caught bribing an electoral official. They think we have forgotten the incident but we have not forgotten. If they do not jail him when we come to power, we will,” he revealed in an interview with Kojo Marfo on ABUSUA 965 FM’s Abusua Nkomo.
Asked why the NDC was insisting on his imprisonment without taking up the matter in court, Gbande maintained that “there is clear evidence that he was bribing electoral officials.”
Kwadaso Member of Parliament, Professor Kingsley Nyarko, was caught on camera taking an envelope from his pocket and dropping it in front of an Electoral Officer at one of the polling stations for the Ejisu by-election.
The Election Commission immediately withdrew its temporary election officials and launched a preliminary investigation, which determined that the envelope contained money, but did not disclose how much was given or why.
He questioned why after the elections and the mayhem, government and Prof Nyarko’s party have not taken the alleged “bribe takers” to court.
“Why has he not been taken to court till now and the goat thief has been charged to court and jailed?” Gbande questioned.
background:
The Ghana Police have arrested Professor Kingsley Nyarko and temporary staff of the Electoral Commission for alleged election-related offences and electoral fraud during the Ejisu by-election in the Ashanti Region.
The EC temporary staff members identified, Mr George Sass and Ms Regina Serwa, have been invited by the police to assist in the investigation and have been interviewed for statements.
The arrest came after a video was captured by Adom News showing Mr Nyarko handing an envelope to two officials of the Electoral Commission at a Pentecostal Church polling station during the by-election.
As a result, the Election Commission suspended the two officials and called for a criminal investigation into their actions.
The Electoral Commission said in a statement that ballot paper publisher Regina Serwa and chairman George Sass were immediately removed from their duties after the video went viral on social media.
Nyarko admitted to being the person seen on video dropping a white envelope on the table of Executive Committee officials during the by-elections, but insisted he had no intention of influencing the officials with the contents of the envelope, and expressed his intention to cooperate with the Ghana Police Service’s investigation into the matter.