Democracy is about development - James Gyakye Quayson

James Gyakye Quayson of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) says he is committed to bringing development to the people of Assin North following his victory in last Tuesday’s parliamentary by-election.

“I sought this position because of my deep commitment to the Assin North development agenda. I remain determined to mobilise resources from within and without to prosecute this agenda with all my energy, no matter the cost,” he said in a statement.

“The people of Assin North have spoken. They have said without equivocation that they want me to represent them in the eighth Parliament. They have told us to stop the politics and focus on solving their problems. This is a victory, not just for me and the NDC, but also for justice.

“I am deeply humbled by the confidence the people have expressed in what I stand for and what I have done. I am also fully aware of the reciprocal responsibilities that this massive show of confidence imposes on me. My solemn pledge is to work as hard as I can for the people who have made tonight possible.”

Addressing the media earlier, Mr Quayson said his win was a win for the conscience of right-thinking Ghanaians who “could not be bought by money”.

Poll

Mr Quayson polled 17, 245 votes, representing 57.56 per cent of votes cast, to beat his closest contender, Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who polled 12,630 votes, representing 42.15 per cent of votes cast.

A third contestant, Bernice Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana, polled 87 votes, representing 0.29 per cent of votes cast.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday congratulated Mr Quayson and the other candidates, the Electoral Commission and its staff, the police, political parties and the voting public on the peaceful polls in Assin North.

The General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey, said the victory was a judgement on the governance of the NPP and an indication that Ghanaians would vote the NPP out in 2024.

Declaration

The returning officer for the election, Kofi Tsibu, made the declaration close to midnight, more than six hours after the close of voting in the 99 polling stations in the constituency.

In a poll widely seen as peaceful and incident-free, with praise for general security, there were 29,962 valid votes out of the 30,418 votes cast, representing 74.23 per cent of voter turnout.

The poll had been characterised by allegations of vote-buying in the frantic efforts by the NDC and the NPP in particular to claim the seat.

But a Senior Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, Dr George Asekere, has called for a public discourse on monetisation in the country’s politics.

He said voters should also be “educated that money is not enough to buy their conscience”.

“We should also tell the voter to reject politicians who come with money,” he said.

“We should also be looking at amending the Political Parties Act to criminalise the use of money to buy votes,” he emphasised.

Dr Asekere also charged the police to prosecute persons who were arrested for engaging in illegalities and to make public the political parties they were aligned to.  

That, he said, was to serve as a deterrent to those who would want to cause mayhem in the system.

Trust, transparency

Meanwhile, a Peace and Development lecturer with expertise in Security at the University of Cape Coast, Dr Patrick Osei-Kufour, said trust and transparency in the electoral systems would gradually remove vigilantism from the nation's electoral process.

While commending the police for the security measures adopted for last Tuesday’s Assin North by-election, Dr Osei-Kufour said the stakes for the 2024 general election were higher and required a lot more to keep the country's peace.

Speaking with the Daily Graphic on the peaceful polls, Dr Osei-Kufour, who is also the Vice Dean of the School of Development Studies, said a lot more was needed to ensure a peaceful general election in 2024.

He observed that the unarmed policemen policy, which was the first layer of security measures, worked well, stressing that the mere presence of policemen with guns removed trust and scared people off.

He said although it was known that there were a lot of vigilante groups that bad trooped to the Assin North Constituency, the transparency and acts of trust by the police rendered the vigilantes almost useless.

Discerning citizens

He said citizens were also becoming discerning and awake, and that once there was a trusted system, the activities of the vigilantes would not be required.

He commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for conducting its work profusionally, saying it contributed to the peaceful by-election, and further urged the EC to enhance transparency through education of citizens to make the process easy for all.

Background

The by-election was triggered by the Supreme Court’s declaration of Mr Quayson’s victory in 2020 as null and void over his allegiance to Canada.