Baba Jamal
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has decided to stick with Mohammed Baba Jamal Ahmed as its parliamentary candidate for the Ayawaso East Constituency by-election despite widespread allegations of vote-buying made against him.
The decision comes in spite of a recommendation by the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the party calling for the annulment of last Saturday’s result that saw some of the candidates share multiple items to delegates who voted.
The Majority in Parliament had also called for the immediate annulment of the party’s parliamentary primary in the Ayawaso East Constituency, following allegations of vote-buying during the exercise.
The General Secretary of the party, Fifi Kwetey, announced the decision of the party to stick with Baba Jamal at a press conference yesterday, following a meeting of the party’s FEC, which convened after receiving a report from a three-member committee that investigated the vote-buying allegations.
According to him, although the committee’s report was to the effect that the primary should be annulled, the party is unable to do so due to some circumstances making it impossible, including the fact that the party’s constitution does not have a provision for the annulment of an election.
Explaining further, he said “we are time-bound because we need to be presenting a candidate by tomorrow (today) to the Electoral Commission. So, given these difficulties, and also there are legal challenges that could be mounted by whoever won, and the party clearly would not be able to go through any of that process without presenting a candidate very quickly.”
In view of these circumstances, Mr. Kwetey said the NDC has “no option but to present Baba Jamal, who actually won, according to the Electoral Commission declaration.”
Meanwhile, the NDC General Secretary has indicated that the three-member committee has been expanded to seven, as part of measures to streamline the party’s internal elections and address issues of vote-buying in future elections.
“We’re going to do a comprehensive review of the whole process that lead to our internal elections. We’re expanding the committee by adding four more members, to make it a seven-member committee, so that they come out with recommendations to deal with this inappropriate canker as far as the elections are concerned,” he indicated.
Mr. Kwetey further pointed out that the three-member committee had established inappropriate conducts by all the candidates, while outlining the need for reforms to prevent similar issues in future internal elections.
Baba Jamal won the NDC parliamentary primary in the Ayawaso East Constituency, defeating four other aspirants in a contest overshadowed by widespread allegations of vote inducement.
The primary attracted national attention after reports emerged that some candidates distributed items including motorbikes, television sets, “butas” (ablution kettles or water dippers), boiled eggs, ice chests, sanitary pads and cash to delegates during the exercise.
The Majority in Parliament had described the developments as unacceptable, especially at a time the party was promoting an agenda to “reset” Ghana’s political culture.
The caucus said after extensive deliberations involving both the core and extended leadership, it had resolved to formally petition the party’s Functional Executive Committee to cancel the election results.
The call came amid a growing investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) into alleged corrupt practices during the primary, held on February 7, 2026.
In a statement issued on February 8, the OSP confirmed it had launched a real-time probe into allegations of vote buying, vote selling, and the sources of funds used in the suspected corrupt acts.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak