General News of Wednesday, 24 December 2008

Source: jfm

Vote Buying With Fake Cedi Notes

The Ashanti Regional Police Command says it has started investigating reports that a political party has been distributing fake currencies in exchange for votes in the region.
Regional Public Relations Officer Mohammed Tanko said the police has so far not been able to apprehend the culprits because the complainants are not cooperating.
He expressed optimism that those behind the deal would soon be brought to book.
Several bills of the new currency are said to have been distributed by a group claiming to be belonging to a particular political party.
The police told the press the name of the political party would not be mentioned because it is inappropriate to associate a party with such an allegation when there is not evidence to prove that.
“We don’t want to mention the name of any political party and associate it with that particular offense when we have not able to establish that the allegation is true,” Mr Tanko said.
The recipients are said to have been compelled to swear that they would vote the anonymous party.
They discovered that the bills were fake when they attempted to make purchases with them the following day.
Mr Tanko appealed to the electorate to immediately report any person seen distributing fake notes for votes.