Educationist and anti-corruption advocate George Ashilevi has warned that vote buying is no longer confined to political parties and election campaigns but has spread into many aspects of Ghanaian society.
Speaking at the JoyNews Impact Makers Foundation’s national reform conversation on vote buying in Ho in the Volta Region on Friday, July 31, Mr Ashilevi said the practice has become deeply rooted in institutions and organisations, posing a serious threat to the country’s democratic values.
According to him, years of studying and researching the issue, coupled with first-hand observations of elections and party primaries, have convinced him that vote buying is becoming more widespread.
“As an academic, I have been teaching this topic for a very long time. I teach the theories, so I decided to go to the field to see for myself,” he said.
He explained that he had attended several party primaries and elections to observe how the practice has evolved over the years.
“I have followed many of the primaries that have been held and elections to witness for myself. It is not something new. It has been there, but now it is evolving. It is increasing,” he said.
Mr Ashilevi said public attention often focuses on vote buying within political parties, but the problem has extended far beyond partisan politics.
“Our concentration is always on the political parties and their delegates. But if it’s smaller groups, student groups, people are paying money for votes,” he said.
He said that the practice has become embedded in different sectors of society.
“Our focus should not always be on the political parties. Among us also, in smaller ways, in the church, in academia, in journalism and communication, everywhere you have a stint of vote buying,” he stated.
The anti-corruption advocate noted that although vote buying has existed for many years, the rise of social media and other digital platforms has made it more visible.
“The visibility, the new media is exposing a lot. That is why we are now connecting with it so much,” he said.
He recalled that in earlier years, votes were often exchanged for simple items rather than large sums of money.
“It was there. People sold their votes for bentua, cassava, petty things. But as democracy begins to grow, the volume also increases, and that is what we are seeing now,” he explained.
Mr Ashilevi warned that the increasing prevalence of vote buying is undermining Ghana’s democratic system.
“It is a very dangerous thing to us because it compromises the quality of democracy that we are practising,” he said.
He explained that the practice distorts electoral competition by making money more important than competence, ideas or leadership qualities.
“It distorts our electoral competition. If you don’t have the money, you can’t go into it. You can have beautiful ideas. You can be the expert in every direction. But if you don’t have the money… you go there, and you come back,” he said.
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