Politicians in the country should desist from distributing gifts and other items to entice people to vote for them in the upcoming November 7 polls, flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) Ivor Greensteet has advised.

Mr Greenstreet said such practices amounted to corruption, which made citizens lose trust in leaders. He said vote buying must be discouraged so as to create a fair playing field for all parliamentary and presidential candidates.

“Recently, we were in the three northern regions and everywhere we went, if you see the conduct of the citizenry, you can see that they hold the view that politicians only come there to exchange gifts and go away, and that is why politicians do not render service to the people and they [citizens] were being paid before the elections,” he told Class News.

He further pointed out that: “In Ghana, corruption seems to pervade every aspect of our life. Look at how politicians are even regarded now. We are regarded as a group of people who serve our own interests and not the people of Ghana, and politics is a vehicle for some kind of wealth creation.”

He, therefore, called for a change in attitude, as the country prepares for another election to select leaders to manage the affairs of the nation for the next four years.

Mr Greenstreet himself faced accusations of vote buying after he won his party’s presidential primary late last year. His arch-rival in that contest, Samia Nkrumah, a former chairperson of the party and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro in the Western Region, was very vocal with several accusations that Mr Greenstreet induced delegates with money.

She, however, failed to provide any evidence for the party to take any action.