The Co-Chair of the Citizens Movement against Corruption, Edem Senanu, has stated that some of the promises made by the New Patriotic Party's Parliamentary Candidate for the Asuogyaman constituency are unfortunate as they constitute vote-buying.

According to him, politicians are expected to concentrate on proposing and implementing meaningful development strategies, rather than relying on superficial promises.

His comments come after Pius Enam Hadzide promised to help his constituents travel to the United States of America during the 2026 World Cup if he is elected in the 2024 general elections.

Mr Hadzide has also been criticized for promising a group of Senior High School students during campaigning that he will help them to access free exeat.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on September 12, Mr Senanu said, “That is vote buying. That’s an attempted vote buying. It is to say I will do this for you, therefore vote for me.”

• Read also: ‘Vote for me and I’ll take you to America for the World Cup’ – Pius Hadzide to constituents

He stated that these promises are unrelated to national or constituency development are attempts at vote buying and do not contribute to building a nation.

“It was extremely unfortunate. People were clapping but I hope that nobody took him seriously because that is not what this is about,” he said.

Mr Senanu stated that there have been instances where voters have been offered gifts such as televisions in exchange for their votes.

“If the laws were strong enough, it should have been sufficient to get some people to fail. Sanctioning people needs to be strengthened. This has nothing to do with why we have electoral seasons, it has nothing to do with why we are electing people into parliament, and it has nothing to do with the development of the nation or democracy.”

“I am going to send you to the US for football, what has that got to do with it? We are going to pay for your ticket. Thais is an attempted vote buying and it's very bad,” he said.