Mary Awelana Addah
The Executive Director of Transparency International Ghana (TI Ghana), Mrs. Mary Awelana Addah, has called on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and state investigative institutions to move beyond rhetoric and impose “harsh and deterrent” sanctions on individuals implicated in the Ayawaso East vote-buying scandal.
Speaking on JoyFM’s SMS programme on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, Mrs. Addah warned that Ghana was steadily losing the fight against what she described as a “disastrous canker” of electoral corruption, largely due to years of ignored warnings and weak enforcement.
Her remarks follow the fallout from the NDC’s recent primary in Ayawaso East, where reports of the distribution of television sets and other inducements dominated public discourse. The controversy led to the high-profile recall of Baba Jamal from his post as Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria by President John Dramani Mahama.
According to Mrs. Addah, the credibility of Ghana’s democratic process now hinges on the signals sent by both political parties and the judiciary.
While acknowledging the difficulty of proving bribery beyond reasonable doubt in court, she stressed that political parties have full authority to cleanse their internal processes and discipline members who undermine democratic values.
“The party determines who qualifies to contest an election, and the party can equally decide who does not represent its brand. It is time for very stringent measures to be put in place to ensure that offenders are punished at that level,” she stated.
Mrs. Addah expressed support for the NDC Parliamentary Caucus’ recommendation to annul the Ayawaso East primary, insisting that individuals who engaged in criminal conduct must be barred from advancing further in the political process.
Beyond immediate sanctions, she called for a comprehensive review of Ghana’s political financing framework, describing existing regulations as a mere “box-ticking exercise” that fails to address the deep-rooted monetisation of politics.
She outlined key proposals under TI Ghana’s Blueprint for Financial Integrity, including mandatory disclosure of campaign funding sources in line with United Nations resolutions, strict limits on campaign duration and expenditure, and decisive action by law enforcement agencies, particularly the Police Service and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), on evidence gathered during the primary.
Touching on the role of the judiciary, Mrs. Addah said that while Transparency International respects due process and fairness, the courts must not overlook what she termed “naked bribery” that has increasingly become a public spectacle.
“We believe in the justice process, but fairness demands that when there is evidence, it must be taken into account. Otherwise, this disastrous canker will continue to grow and weaken our democracy,” she warned.
By Vera Owusu Sarpong