The Founder of the All People’s Congress, Hassan Ayariga, has predicted that voter apathy is likely to increase in the 2024 general elections due to the ongoing issue of vote-buying in the country.

According to him, Ghanaians have been subjected to poverty, suffering, and hardship, leading many to sell their votes.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Etsey Atisu on GhanaWeb TV's Election Desk, he stated that elites who understand the dynamics of elections and democracy in the country have become indifferent to the electoral process because elections are no longer focused on the policies and visions of political parties.

“The Ghanaian people have been subjected to poverty, suffering, and hardship. Instead of now listening to policies and visions of political parties, they are now selling their votes, and that is the problem. It is no longer about policies, and that is the problem, and those elites that you cannot buy their votes, they have decided to be adamant, and that is the reason we have voter apathy, and it is probably going to increase,” he noted.

He explained that in the 2020 elections, although 17 million Ghanaians registered as voters, only 11 million of them cast their ballots.

“In the last elections, I’m still referring you to that one because it is just the past one. So, see, in the last elections, 17 million people were registered as voters, 11 million people went to the polls, and 6 million Ghanaians refused to go to the polls. These are the elites who understand the dynamics of democracy and politics. They are not interested in going to waste their time on the NDC or NPP, and that is why there is so much voter apathy, and this year it is probably going to increase. And the 6 million could be people who could have voted for us.”

“We are saying, the APC, we understand your pain, your hardship, and your difficulties, and if we are going to pay for you to vote for us, we are equally going to be like the NPP and the NDC, and I don’t want to be corrupt. And you ask them, where are they getting the money to pay? Why do you want me to give you a job, and you have to pay me for me to give you a job? That is corruption in the highest order,” he stated.

Hassan Ayariga further blamed the public for encouraging corruption in the NPP and the NDC.

“We are encouraging the corruption the NDC and NPP are engaging in. We do not ask them difficult questions, we do not ask them hard questions.

“When you want to buy a mobile phone, you look at it, you examine it, and you test it to see if it’s working before you buy. Do we do the same with the NPP and the NDC?” he stated.

Watch the interview below:


JKB/OGB

Watch the latest episode of Everyday People below: