“I have 57 Delegates in my Pocket;” Dr Bawumia’s Aide Touts Vote Buying!

Vice President Bawumia and His Confidante, Chief Akilu Sayibu

In an era where dubious schemes around Campaign financing have been identified as a major contribution to the abuse of Political office and Corruption with impunity, it has become increasingly troubling to the conscience of hundreds of Ghanaians on various social media platforms to have an unemployed former deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Exports Promotion Authority (GEPA), who prides himself as Aide and confidante of the Vice President, Dr Bawumia, make loud claims how he has been able to buy some 57 delegates in his constituency to Vote for the Veep in the upcoming NPP flagbearership race.

Contributing to a discussion on his Candidate, Dr Bawumia’s dwindling prospects of winning the upcoming Presidential primaries, Chief Akilu Sayibu, the man with no known salaried job since he was sacked from GEPA, bursted out he had some 57 delegates now, even as a former Parliamentary candidate, in his pocket who would do as his whims and caprices please.

“I have 57 delegates in my pocket. Even Angels can’t tell who to vote for. I am their President.”

Akilu Sayibu, early 2022 on WhatsApp group; “A New Breed of Ghanaians”

Paradoxically, he lost the contest in 2012 at the Tamale north constituency. But where were these 57 delegates? What happened to his hold on delegates at the time? Is it the case his Lord, Dr Bawumia had not become Vice President as yet? Your guess is as good as mine! ENIGMA!

This was said over a year ago and so one would assume it was one of those vain speeches but we’d be wrong. Chief Akilu in yet another WhatsApp group exchange on why he thinks Dr Bawumia would win the NPP Presidential Primaries, repeated same braggadocious feat to be in full control of the minds of some 57 delegates of the NPP in Tamale North constituency where he failed woefully to win for the party in 2012.

“I am not an MP but over 57 relatives in my constituency are delegates. They will vote who I want them to vote.”

Chief Akilu Sayibu, 29th April, 2023 on WhatsApp group, Help Nana Rule Ghana.

Consequently, the Vote buying Akilu has advised the leading candidate Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen after a successful execution of the Accra version of the “Aduru Woso Walk,” to focus on winning (buying) delegates instead of assembling thousands of Ghanaians to prove his love by the ordinary Ghanaian and apparently, an important reason to be voted for, by the delegates.

Now schemes like what Chief Akilu Sayibu confesses to, raise serious questions on the kind of government Ghanaians can expect in the very unlikely event the Vice President, Dr Mahamud Bawumia becomes President with juicy appointments handed over to people like Chief Akilu Sayibu whose major contribution apart from registering an online media agency to advance the cause of the Veep, has been the ability to buy votes of some 57 delegates to render them slaves of his choice and caprices.

But the deeper question remains how an unemployed man garners temerity to arrogate for himself the status of a financier for some 57 NPP delegates in the Tamale North Constituency merely by a close association with the Vice President of Ghana. Indeed, his last publicly known source of salary ended once he was sacked in June 2018, but he boldly commits Vote Buying and heralds same as a reason his candidate’s never materialising anticipated victory.

Meanwhile on the international front, Vote buying has been seen as a threat to freewill of humans with a right to choose in all sane considerations, who to lead them in a cause and as a major nourishment to corruption. The Young African Leadership Initiative YALI, has published some effects of Vote buying in a media resource published in May 2017. In the report as presented by Thierry Uwamahoro, a former senior program officer with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), some effects of vote buying are identified below.

First, Uwamahoro posits, Vote buying is rarely an isolated action as it perpetuates corruption throughout the entire political system. He opines, when a candidate chooses to pay for support, rather than compete fairly for votes, they show a disregard for democratic norms and a willingness to use illegal means. “If they see that buying off supporters worked during the election, what is to stop them from using that strategy in other areas of governance?” He quizzes. This is clearly the situation Ghanaians stand to face with characters like Chief Akilu Sayibu working for the Vice President of Ghana to be made the NPP’s flag bearer by all means apparently foul. It remains illegal for any candidate to go about a Vote buying spree and even more perverse, have their assigns and Aides, tout it loudly in public spaces to further worsen efforts to ensure sanity within our Politicos. For a party like the NPP which has an age old record of association with solid Democratic credentials, this comes as a tragedy.

A second effect of Vote Buying is the fact that Vote buying obstructs the democratic process by interfering with the rights of citizens to freely decide who will represent them and their interests. “This can result in the candidate with the deepest pockets winning the election, rather than the candidate who would best serve the constituents,” Uwamahoro said. Ideally, elections create a “social contract” between candidates and constituents who voted with the presumption and holy expectation that the candidates will govern along the lines of their stated policy platforms. Yet here we are with Vote Buying from Aides to a Flagbearer aspirant with no convincing message properly calved to win delegates and the disappointed Ghanaian populace in his uninspiring handling of the Ghanaian economy. Wait, is it the case they’re involved in Vote buying as a means to cushion the suffering delegates JUST FOR THIS WHILE THEY NEED THEIR VOTES? ENIGMA!!

Yet another dire effect of Vote Buying the YALI scholar identifies is the fact that Vote Buying enables poor governance and undercuts citizens’ ability to hold their elected officials accountable. I mean once delegates have successfully been commoditised and votes paid for, they would naturally have no morally good reason to demand responsible governance. “If a candidate believes all they need to do to be elected is pay off voters and government officials, they will have no good incentive to be responsive to issues their constituents care about. Issues like water and sanitation, education and unemployment,” Uwamahoro said.

Even more, Vote buying presents a huge impediment in the way of potential leaders. Along with damaging the candidate’s credibility, vote buying deters aspiring political leaders from running for office because it suggests that money, rather than ideas or experience, is how to win an election. People like Chief Akilu have proved ill-gotten money is the way to win elections and that is outright foul play. “That discourages qualified candidates from running for office, while entrenching corrupt officials in their positions,” Uwamahoro said. In places where vote buying is common, candidates face the dilemma of needing to mobilize most of their resources to buy the votes and assuming offices with significant debts from campaign financing. This explains why most good men become complicit in all forms of nation wrecking deals because they owe so much from their campaigns and must find monies to take care of such debts once they’re in government.

In fact, Chief Akilu Sayibu, an Aide and self acclaimed confidante of the Vice President, is not some philanthropist who would go about financing the needs of random ordinary Ghanaians but an opportunist who carefully selects delegates from the Tamale north constituency like he’s claimed publicly to be doing, just for the pleasure of their votes. This means in the unlikely event Dr Bawumia becomes flagbearer and President, people like Chief Akilu would be given juicy appointments to be able to first recoup their losses before peradventure, they would attend to the needs of the suffering masses. This is a self gratification exercise that helps no one in the end as the rich and the poor gap gets widened.

Finally, international standards have it established that in a true democracy, every citizen has the right to stand for office, subject to reasonable considerations. Uwamahoro identifies Vote buying makes it impossible to meet these standards by unduly penalizing potential candidates who are at an economic disadvantage. Amongst these groups often rendered incapable of competing with these Vote buyers are women and minority politicians who are not known to control huge contracts and monies.

To conclude, this remains a call to all sane and fair minded Ghanaians to resist the regime of Vote buying politicians as seen in the campaign of the Vice President. The effects are dire and a major setback in the development of our nation, Ghana. Let us arise and shame empty politicians whose only resort is vote buying to ascend to seats they cannot functionally occupy.

Thank you!