The arrest of a New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate aspirant for Asante Akim Central in the Ashanti Region, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, by the Office of the Special prosecutor on Wednesday, January 10 over alleged distribution of monies to delegates has come under strong criticism by some delegates in the area.
Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), is said to have given each of the 623 delegates of the area an amount of 500 cedis ahead of the party’s parliamentary primaries slated for January 27, 2024.
He was taken into custody to assist in ongoing investigations before being released.
But the delegates seem not to understand why only Mr Nkansah is being probed on that issue when all the three aspirants including the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi also gave out monies to delegates as Christmas gift.
“If the OSP has invited Ofosu Nkansah for giving us GHC500, why are we leaving out the MP who gave us GHC300? Nana Agyemang also gave us GHC100. All of them should also be invited else we will be left with no option than to conclude that the arrest is a sabotage and attempt to push him (Ofosu Nkansah) out of contest, but we will not allow that to happen”, Emmanuel Owusu Antwi, a delegate fumed.
Another delegate, Abigail Adjei, also argued that the money given to them was not a bribe because “it is something both Anyimadu and Kofi Nkansah do every year.
“They give us Christmas gifts in various forms, so how can this be termed as bribe?”she questioned.
However, there could be more to the arrest of the Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) than just distribution of money to delegates.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Asante Akim Central, Robert Kwakye, has revealed that the OSP invited him also over a GHC500,000 bribery allegation on Monday, January 8, 2024.
“Kofi Ofosu Nkansah called to offer me GHC500,000 to support his candidature ahead of the primaries, but I rejected it because I am already in the camp of the MP, Anyimadu-Antwi, only to later hear in public that I have been bribed with that amount. Kofi is my younger brother, but I couldn’t betray the MP as he also supported me when I was vying for the MCE position”, Mr Kwakye explained.
Kofi Ofosu Nkansah lost to the incumbent MP, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, by 41 votes in the 2020 parliamentary primaries of the party, but is determined to oust the MP in the January 27 election.