Speaking at separate meetings with NDC delegates at Awutu Breku and Gomoa Akotsi in the Central Region, Mr. Goosie Tanoh said the practice of vote buying was alien to principles that formed the National Democratic Congress.

“What happened on Saturday when our women and youth met to elect national officers and we all saw what happened on that day, people were buying votes for 200 cedis, gas cookers, flat screens TV sets etc, were all used to bribe delegates. These character traits can be attributed to the elephant party (NPP) not NDC. NDC members are good servants and have people at heart. We serve with love. When money is used to entice people to vote, the party ends up electing wrong leaders” Goosie Tanoh told delegates during a campaign tour to the Central Region on Monday.

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According to Mr. Goosie Tanoh, the use of money and essential goods to influence voters is a character of the “elephant” and is borne out of the politics of entitlement.

Speaking to shouts of “Gas Cookers, TVs, Tablets” from the delegates gathered, Goosie Tanoh said “That character is that of the elephant. For the NPP, everything comes down to entitlement” he continued in his native Fanti language, saying, “for us, we value humans, so if we go selling our votes, we end up not choosing the right people, and reasoning with our stomachs instead of our heads.”

He explained that the practice of vote buying breeds corrupt leaders.

He argued that there was no need for politicians to resort to buying votes if the welfare of voters is their priority.

His condemnation of vote buying is on the back of media reports that suggested vote-buying engulfed the National Democratic Congress Youth and Women elections held Saturday at Gomoa Fetteh.

The media reports also alleged that delegates and constituencies received as much as 500 dollars before casting their votes while other candidates also openly distributed items such as tricycles, sandals, key-holders, exercise books, branded food and drinks, gas cookers and cylinders in an attempt to induce voters.”

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Goosie Tanoh decried the monetization of elections in the country and urged members of the umbrella family not to allow their judgement to be bought.

Both NDC and NPP have at different times, accused each other of buying votes during elections.

There were similar reports of alleged massive vote buying during the recently held National congress of the ruling NPP that elected new national executive leaders for the party.

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Goosie Tanoh urged political parties to respect the electoral code of conduct and appealed to delegates to reject perpetrators of such crimes.

Goosie Tanoh is currently touring the country canvassing for votes in a bid to lead the NDC as the party’s presidential candidate for election 2020.

According to Augustus Goosie Tanoh who is also considering a run for the Presidency in 2020 on the ticket of the NDC, it was a disaster for Mr John Mahama to lose more than one million votes in the 2016 election, a situation he says he will change if he is elected.

“I think Mahama coming back in 2020 is not a good thing. It was actually a disaster for him to lose such a huge number. I think NPP didn’t win 2016 election but rather NDC lost the elections. Even our own NDC people voted against their own party because of their frustrations,” he said.

Goosie Tanoh was speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen Monday.

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Mr Tanoh who abandoned the NDC ahead of the crucial 2000 general elections to form his own NRP said his first agenda when elected as flagbearer is to reorganise the NDC to restore voluntarism, participatory decision-making, integrity, and transparency.

The second will be to regain public trust in the NDC and reposition it in national life and third to help it recapture power to resume the national democratic transformation of our country.

According to him, he won’t campaign on the achievements of Mr Mahama though he concentrated so much on infrastructure, a development he believes contributed to the defeat of the NDC in the 2016 election.

John Mahama, he indicated has no unfinished business to continue and that he has had his turn, and should allow others to take up the mantle for the NDC.

Asked what he would do if he loses his bid to lead the part in 2020, Mr. Goosie Tanoh, who is also a former aide to President Rawlings during the PNDC era said “I will rather concentrate on my movement and make sure I do what I can to help my party but trust me, I will not take any vice president position from anyone”.

Augustus Goosie Tanoh said he is of the belief that for the NDC to go forward in the future, the party needs a new leader.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen Monday, the former flagbearer of the defunct National Reform Party said challenges like excessive imports without value is the reason the cedi has depreciated.

“We have had a good rating before as far as our economy is concerned but the problem with us is that we don’t produce what we eat. I think the economy is not responding to the things we need because we end up importing everything,” he observed.

“We have de-industrialized and that means it will put pressure on the cedi and that is what’s happening now with our cedi,” he added.

The local currency continued its rapid nosedive since the start of September, losing 0.9 per cent of its value to the dollar to sell  at 4.8378 on Thursday.

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The cedi has lost almost 7 per cent of its value against the strong dollar since the beginning of the year, prompting fears of dire consequences to the Ghanaian.

But Mr Tanoh urged the government and its agencies to, as a matter of urgency, focus on the bigger picture and stop politicizing the issue which to him, will ease the pressure on the cedi.

He noted that if some goods can be produced and consumed locally, then the country should be able to produce same and not import.

“If we can produce certain basic goods that we consume locally, it means that we will not have to import those goods. We must begin to learn and create entrepreneurship,” he said.