One constituency, one bus, GII accuse Freddy Blay of monetizing politics

The acting Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr Freddy Blay has come under attack for daring to buy 275 buses at a cost of $11 million for his party.

In a "one constituency, one bus approach," similar to the party’s campaign mantra in 2016, Freddie Blay has shipped in the 275 buses, 100 of which have already touched down.

The Acting chairman who is seeking to consolidate his position as the Chair in the New Patriotic Party’s Congress on Saturday deposited an amount of $3 million as part payment, with the remaining amount said to be paid from the proceeds from the commercial use of the buses.

His action has courted anger from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some anti-graft institutions.

Read also: Probe source of funding for Freddy Blay's $11million buses - Minority

The Member of Parliament for Bodi, Samson Ahi has said the move by Mr Blay is a huge corruption test case for President Akufo-Addo.

“Where did he get the money to procure the buses?” he demanded and charged the president to look into the matter.

He said Mr Blay as Chair of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation cannot raise such an amount to purchase the buses.

His concerns were no different from the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Linda Ofori Kwafo who spoke in a radio interview with Accra based Joy FM and condemned the action.

Linda Ofori Kwado said the procurement of the buses and the timing of the procurement are so wrong.

According to her, with just two days to go for the congress to elect new national officers, it is nothing more than vote buying for the aspiring national campaign chair to buy 275 buses for distribution to party members.

“The timing and the person involved does not create a level playing field,” she said, adding, “it is not good enough for our democracy.”

While she believes Freddie Blay is “not a man of straw” she was quick to add that “procuring these buses at the last hour raises a lot questions."

“Any kind of procurement around this time erodes the competitiveness,” she said.

She was worried that political parties form governments and if such practices are encouraged at the party level it will trickle down into national elections.

By purchasing these vehicles at the time he did, Linda Ofori Kwafo said Freddy Blay is monetizing democracy which now becomes “moneycracy.”