MP Promises 20,000 Per Delegate, If Opponents Pay 10, 000
Delegates in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai constituency in the Western North Region will have a lot to smile about when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) opens nominations for parliamentary primaries for its incumbent MPs.
This is because the Member of Parliament (MP), Alfred Obeng-Boateng, has promised to pay his way through that contest with thousands of Ghana Cedis per delegate, against anyone that may dare to contest him for his second-term journey.
The MP, who is a first-time lawmaker and vice chairperson of Parliament’s Government Assurance Committee, in a video, is seen boasting that if his contenders decide to pay GH₵10, 000 per delegate, he will double it and even add more.
“So, I laugh seeing all that they are doing, I have dollars there for that primaries. What I can tell my delegates is that I will pay more than double what anyone who will contest me will offer them, they should take that from me. If they come together and decide to pay GH₵10,000 per delegate, I will pay more than that.
“Whatever they pay, even if they pay GH₵20,000 I will pay more than GH₵20,000 because I know how much I have put there; I know how much I have reserved. That is why I saved in dollars so that the money will not lose value,” he noted.
In the past, well-to-do aspirants from various political parties have offered home appliances, like fridges, television sets, cloth and various sums of money, including dollars.
More dollars
According to the former managing director (MD) of the Bulk Oil and Storage Transportation (BOST) Company Limited, he has saved enough dollars for this purpose and ready to gift more than double, what his opponents may offer at that internal contest.
The Anchor has gathered that, the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai constituency has about 1,200 delegates, waiting to vote for their preferred parliamentary candidate, ahead of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
According to him, this particular money has been secured long ago and stashed in dollar account, mainly for the primaries.
“I am telling you that the money I will use for the primaries is in dollars and that money has been secured long ago, I must be frank with you. That is money I am not touching under any circumstance.
“So, I laugh seeing all that they are doing, I have dollars there for that primaries,” he said.
Mr. Obeng-Boateng, who also owns the popular Oki Ola series SHS textbooks, said he knows from previous elections that people in the NPP will scheme to unseat him and so he has come prepared for the task ahead.
He said he has done his own findings and knows what the strength of his opponents and their capabilities, when it comes to their financial muscles.
“I knew from day one that, upon all the resistance I faced during my coming (into office), this time people will regroup more forces, pool their resources together and fight one person.
“So, knowing all this, I know everyone’s financial strength; I know everyone’s financial limit here. So, I know how much they can easily pull without being worried about it. When you have, say, a million Ghana cedis, you can give away GH₵1, 000 each without flinching.
Previous election
“In the past, delegates were paid a minimum of GH₵3,000 but, this year, aspirants, especially the incumbent, is ready to lift the bar as he says the money is there in dollar denomination.
“So, we are about to go for primaries with about a thousand-two hundred delegates, the other time we paid around GH₵3,000 minimum per person and the primaries is coming again,” the MP said.
He said he cannot allow his competitors to intimidate him financially and not do the same in return, adding his money is not hidden, and could either be in in the bank or at home and “there is no crime not in that.”
“If I say I have kept my monies in dollars that does not mean I have kept them in the house. It only means that part of my money is in dollars and I have exchanged same and it could be at the bank or it could also be in my room and there is no offence or criminality in that. There is nothing wrong with that. I decide where I want to keep my money.
“If I also said that in the upcoming primaries, whatever my competitors will, I will offer more than them, they should know that I was responding to a threat from someone saying that he was going to pay money, who was he going to pay to and for what reason. So that is why I said I will pay more than them because if someone threatens, I have to be able to threaten the person back,” he explained.
Betrayal
Mr. Obeng-Boateng was in the news recently after his senior in Parliament and NPP presidential candidate, Kennedy Agyapong, swore never to forgive him.
According to reports, the maverick MP said his junior colleague stabbed him at the back after he had supported him to become MP and that he also defended him when he was at BOST and a scandal broke under his watch in 2017.
Indeed, Mr. Agyapong was one of the vocal bigwigs in the NPP, who stood on his grounds and defended the now MP, because, according to him, Ken, knows financially the contribution of the former BOST MD to the party, while in opposition.
It is said Ken is peeved that his friend allegedly coerced his constituents not to vote for him in their presidential primaries because he is reckless in his speech.
“One of them that I have helped, I will never forgive him. If you’re not even going to vote for me you have a choice, I don’t have a problem. I went there to campaign for this MP to win and this man picks a phone and calls delegates and says don’t vote for Ken Agyapong, vote for number 2 on the ballot.
“Then one of them asked him, why? He said Ken Agyapong makes reckless statements. I’m talking about Bibiani MP, I campaigned for him. I left his place 1:00am.
“For this man to say I talk recklessly, I can never forgive that guy. When they sacked him from BOST, he was always in my house till about 1:00am consoling him. If you won’t vote for me, no problem, but for you to tell delegates in your area that I speak recklessly, I leave him to God,” Mr. Agyapong said during a studio interview with Bola Ray on Starr FM.
Source: Anchorghana.com
