Ayawaso East NDC Primary: Baba Jamal hot: President recalls him from diplomatic duties - OSP, party probe vote-buying allegation

A simple exercise to elect a parliamentary candidate has caused the recall of a diplomat who contested in the primary, attracted the interest of anti-graft institutions and thrown the entire exercise into controversy over allegations of vote-buying. 

Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, popularly known as Baba Jamal, once a Deputy Minister of Communication and a former one-term Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia, won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) internal contest intended to field a candidate for the Ayawaso East by-election, polling 431 of the 964 valid votes cast last Saturday. 

His closest challenge came from Hajia Amina Adam, widow of the immediate past Member of Parliament (MP) of the area, who polled 399 votes.

The other three candidates polled a combined 134 votes. Total delegates eligible to vote in the primary were 1,047.

But viral videos of supposed voter inducement in the constituency pointed fingers at Mr Jamal, Ghana's High Commissioner to Nigeria.

Mr Jamal subsequently explained that he had shown generosity towards acquaintances at Christmas and other festive occasions, and that the 32-inch TV sets and other souvenirs were not intended to induce any of the beneficiaries to vote in a particular way.

While the controversy raged, the President, after the election, instructed the recall of the High Commissioner to Nigeria over the allegations of vote-buying in the primary, while the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) said it had began investigation into the allegations surrounding the primary. 

President's directive

In a statement dated February 7, 2026 and signed by the Spokesperson to the President and Minister of State, Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, President John Dramani Mahama directed Mr Jamal immediate recall  from his position as Ghana's High Commissioner to Nigeria.

It said the decision followed allegations of voter inducement in last Saturday's NDC primary in the Ayawaso East Constituency, in which Mr Baba Jamal, a candidate, participated.

In his directive to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to recall Mr Jamal as High Commissioner, the President indicated that while the allegations of vote-buying were made against multiple candidates who contested in the primary, Baba Jamal was the only serving public officer among them.

The President also recognised the statement by the General Secretary of the NDC, indicating that the party had commenced its own investigations into the allegations arising from the primary.

"Without prejudice to the ongoing internal party processes, and strictly in view of the standards of conduct expected of public officers, the President considers it necessary to act decisively to preserve the integrity of public office and to avoid any perception of impropriety or conflict with the government's Code of Conduct for Political Appointees," the statement said.

OSP

In a statement yesterday, the OSP announced the commencement of investigation in respect of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primary of January 31, 2026 and a real-time investigation in respect of the NDC’s Ayawaso East parliamentary primary.

“The investigations focus on allegations of vote buying, vote selling, and the sources of funding of the alleged corrupt acts,” the statement said.

The OSP also said it was looking into allegations of Baba Jamal abetting thugs to physically attack an officer of the OSP, who was serving an investigative directive on him in relation to vote buying and vote selling.

“Consequently, the OSP has opened further investigation into the assault of an authorised officer of the OSP in the performance of his functions in relation to Mohammed Baba Jamal Ahmed,” it added.

The OSP reminded the public that the law prohibited corrupt acts in relation to public elections and that “it is a serious offence to engage in vote buying, vote selling, intimidation, threats of violence, and acts of violence in relation to elections.”

NDC's position

Before the voting process could come to a close, the NDC issued a statement, indicating that it would cause an investigation into the allegations of vote-buying.

The party consequently instituted a full-scale investigation into the matter, with the appointment of party elder and former National Security Minister, Kofi Totobi Kwakye; the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, and a lawyer, Emefa Fugah, tasked to submit a report by tomorrow.

A statement signed and issued by the General Secretary of the party, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, and dated February 7, 2026, cited allegations of widespread incidents of inducement and vote-buying allegedly perpetuated by some aspirants at the primary in the Ayawaso East Constituency.

The party condemned those actions, saying they represented an affront to the values and principles of the party and the reset agenda the party’s government was championing.

The party further stated that in the future, more drastic sanctions would be taken, including possibly cancelling elections, when such incidents came up.

Commitee

Meanwhile, the party has set up a three-member commitee chaired by Inusah Fuseini, a former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, to probe the issue.

The Majority Caucus in Parliament has also called for the annullment of the results of the primary, while recommending that any candidate who participated in the poll and has been established to have engaged “in this unethical conduct be banned from taking part in subsequent primary.”

Pre-election poll

Pre-election polls by the respected Global InfoAnalytics had put Hajia Amina in a comfortable stead to win the race, all things being equal.

The research and polling institution, which had correctly polled many other previous elections, had put Hajia Amina's expected votes at 58 per cent.

But Mr Jamal and his supporters openly dared to defy the authenticity of Global InfoAnalytics' poll results.

The Chief Executive of Global InfoAnalytics, Mussa Dankwah, in a Facebook post after the election, said: "In the just ended NDC primary in Ayawaso East, I was handed a defeat but I will not issue any statement regardless."

According to Mr Dankwah, his modelled predictions had a three per cent margin of error.

The results showed: Mohammed Ramne: nine per cent (within the predicted margin of error), Hajia Amina, 41 per cent (underperformed by nine per cent, six per cent outside the margin of error) and Baba Jamal’s 45 per cent (outperformed predictions, four per cent outside the margin of error), Dr Azindow and Najib Sani both performed as predicted.

Background

The Ayawaso East Constituency parliamentary seat became vacant following the demise of the sitting NDC MP, Mahama Naser Toure, on January 4, this year.

His death necessitated the party's primary to elect a candidate to contest on the ticket of the NDC for the by-election scheduled for Tuesday, March 3, 2026.

It was Mr Toure's fourth term in Parliament, having entered the House in 2013 representing the people of Ayawaso East on the ticket of the NDC.