Joseph Osei Owusu, the first deputy speaker of parliament, those with enormous financial resources win parliamentary primaries.
This follows the announcement that 19 members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have chosen not to run for office again and that 28 other members have lost the recently concluded primary.
Ten of the 28 incumbent Members of Parliament who lost are first-timers, while 18 have served several terms in the House.
The Bekwei legislator said that incumbent members of Parliament are always at a disadvantage when it comes to parliamentary primaries in an interview with Ibrahim Alhassan, the EIB Network Parliamentary Correspondent.
“It’s a pity that how deep your pocket is a lot more influential these days. Otherwise the situation would have been how it is all year round. People from the government feed, people from CEOs all want to be in Parliament and they are all competent. I competed in 2008 from DVLA Chief Executive, it is not new.
“Everybody who has political interest gauges his strength at what time he thinks he can get in. But really what matters is how much appeal you bring. Except it is influenced by how deep your pocket is and other factors,” Mr. Owusu stated.
“For sitting MPs they are disadvantaged because as soon as you become an MP you will pay till the next election period. Whereas for the other person who is coming he may have saved and deepened his pocket all the more. If you are sitting MP you are disadvantaged,” he added.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
