A Deputy Chief of Staff and formidable aspirant in the parliamentary primaries of the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) in the Bantama Constituency of the Ashanti Region, Francis Asenso-Boakye has denied claims of vote-buying made against him by his opponent and incumbent Member of Parliament(MP) for the constituency Mr Okyem Aboakye, insisting that he has neither the money nor the desire to engage in vote-buying.
Mr Asenso-Boakye, much respected for being a founding member of TESCON( Tertiary Education Students Confederacy of the NPP) is considered by political watchers as likely to unseat Mr Okyem Aboakye as the NPP goes to the polls to elect a parliamentary candidate for the constituency this Saturday.
Mr Okyem Aboakye has repeatedly accused Mr Asenso-Boakye of spending extravagantly and lavishly on delegates as a means to win votes from them.
But in a reaction sighted by MyNewsGh, Mr Asenso-Boakye, who has the backing of the Constituency executive and is deemed to have the full backing of the Presidency, has denied engaging in vote-buying.
“I have received with much surprise, snippets of interviews granted by Hon Okyem Aboagye, Member of Parliament for Bantama Constituency, repeatedly making baseless allegations of vote buying against me. I have neither the means nor desire to engage in such discredited conduct. On the contrary, I’m grateful for the goodwill extended to me by the executives of our party in the constituency,” he asserted.
Mr Asenso-Boakye then advised the MP to desist from making unfounded allegations since they have the tendency of undermining the fortunes of the NPP as a whole.
“I take this opportunity to urge the Honorable Member of Parliament to refrain from making scurrilous assertions that bring the reputation of our much enamoured constituency into disrepute and reduce his standing in the eyes of the public.
Bantama is bigger than any of us and we owe it to the delegates and the party to conduct our campaign with utmost decency and good faith.
For my part, I remain committed to serving the people of Ghana and Bantama with integrity,” he added.
The Bantama Constituency is a safe seat for the NPP, meaning whoever emerges winner of the parliamentary primaries would most likely be elected as Member of Parliament.
Source:MyNewsGh.com
