Two things surprise most people. The person who takes the money commits an offence too, not only the person who gives it. And the law reaches beyond cash: food and drink can be treating, and threats - including threats of spiritual harm - can be undue influence.

WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU

Article 42 of the Constitution gives every citizen of eighteen or above and of sound mind the right to vote. Article 49(1) says: "At any public election or referendum, voting shall be by secret ballot." The secrecy is not a courtesy. It is the thing that makes the vote yours.

Vote buying attacks that directly. It also shapes who can afford to stand for office at all, which decides the names you get to choose between long before election day.

And knowing the law lets you place the claims you will hear. "It was only a small amount." "Food at a rally is normal." "Only the person giving can be charged." "Take the money and vote your conscience." Every one of those is answered below.

WHICH ELECTIONS THIS LAW COVERS

This section states the position as at September 2026.

The offences in PNDCL 284 are built around public elections - elections to Parliament, the presidency, the District Assemblies and Unit Committees, and referenda. Whether they reach vote buying inside a political party primaries, congresses and internal executive elections is contested, and it has not been settled.

On 11 February 2026 OccupyGhana petitioned Parliament's leadership for a Criminal Offences (Amendment) (Internal Political Party Elections) Bill, 2026. Its argument is that the definition of "public election", tied to section 3(5) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), has been read as excluding party primaries and congresses, and that this gap, in its words, "has created a permissive space for vote buying, inducements, intimidation and related malpractices to flourish at the very foundation of our democratic system". The bill would amend Act 29, PNDCL 284, the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) and the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999). The law is yet to be amended.

At the same time, the Office of the Special Prosecutor has opened investigations into alleged vote buying in the January and February 2026 primaries of both major parties, relying on its constitutional and statutory mandate rather than on the electoral offences above.

So the honest answer is this. For a public election, the four offences below apply squarely. For a party primary, the reach of the law is disputed and is being tested right now. Anyone who tells you confidently that buying votes in a primary is definitely a crime, or definitely not one, is ahead of where Ghanaian law actually stands today.

THE FOUR OFFENCES

One word first. "Inducement" is everyday language, not a charge. Nobody is prosecuted for inducement in Ghana. These four are the offences the law names.

Personation - section 32

Voting, or attempting to vote, as somebody else. It sits alongside the other three in the penalty section, so it carries the same consequences.

Bribery - section 33

Section 33 catches a person who, directly or through somebody else, gives money or obtains an office for a voter in order to induce that voter to vote or refrain from voting. It also reaches the other side of the transaction: receiving, or agreeing to receive, money, a gift, a loan, valuable consideration, an office or employment in exchange for voting or not voting.

The element that decides these cases is purpose. Not the size of the amount. Not whether the words "vote for me" were spoken aloud. The question is whether the thing was given or taken in order to influence a vote.

Treating - section 34

A person commits treating if he "corruptly either himself or through another person, before, during or after an election gives or provides or pays wholly or in part the expenses of giving or providing meat, drink, entertainment or provision" to or for any person, for the purpose of influencing that person's vote. A person who knowingly accepts such treatment for that purpose is covered too.

Note the two words doing the work. "Corruptly" means food at a rally is not automatically an offence - hospitality at political events is ordinary. And "before, during or after" means the timing defence does not work: a thank-you party after the votes are counted is still within the section.

Undue influence - section 35

This is the offence people know least and encounter most. Section 35 catches a person who, directly or indirectly or through another, "makes use of or threatens to make use of force, violence or restraint", or who "inflicts or threatens to inflict on another person a temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm or loss", in order to induce or compel that person to vote or refrain from voting, or because that person voted or refrained from voting.

Read that middle phrase again: temporal or SPIRITUAL injury. A threat of spiritual consequence, a curse, an oath sworn to bind somebody's vote - the section reaches these in the same breath as physical violence. It also covers anyone who "by abduction, duress or any fraudulent method impedes or prevents the free exercise of the franchise of a voter".

WHAT HAPPENS TO SOMEBODY CONVICTED

Section 41 is headed "Penalty and Incapacity for Corrupt and Illegal Practices". A person convicted of personation, bribery, treating or undue influence is liable to a fine or to imprisonment not exceeding two years or both, and is disqualified from being registered as a voter or voting at a public election for five years after the end of the prison term.

Section 41(2) also requires a court that convicts to report the conviction in writing to the Electoral Commission.

There is a separate consequence for the vote itself. Under section 21, on the scrutiny of votes, a vote proved to have been procured by bribery, treating or undue influence can be struck off. But this happens in court, during an election petition, when a judge examines the votes. It does not happen on polling day, and it does not follow automatically from an allegation.

THE LIES THIS PROTECTS YOU FROM

1. "Take the money and vote your conscience"

The claim you'll see: Presented as clever advice every election season - collect from whoever is giving, then vote as you please. Some people treat it as a form of resistance.

What's actually true: Section 33 reaches receiving or agreeing to receive. The offence is complete at the taking. How you mark your ballot afterwards does not undo it, and because the ballot is secret under Article 49(1), nobody can verify your side of the bargain anyway.

Why it spreads: It lets somebody take money and still feel principled. That is a comfortable story, which is exactly why it travels.

2. "It was only a small amount"

The claim you'll see: A defender points to how little was handed over, as though there were a threshold below which the law is not interested.

What's actually true: Section 33 turns on purpose, not amount. There is no minimum. A small sum given to influence a vote is within the section; a large gift given for no such purpose is not.

Why it spreads: Arguing about the amount is easier than arguing about the purpose, and the amount is the part everybody can see.

3. "Only the giver can be charged"

The claim you'll see: Responsibility placed entirely on the candidate or the party agent, with voters treated as bystanders.

What's actually true: Section 33 covers both sides. Receiving, or agreeing to receive, in exchange for voting or not voting is the offence of bribery just as giving is.

Why it spreads: It is the more comfortable arrangement for everyone involved, and it never gets corrected because prosecutions are rare.

4. "It is only vote buying on election day"

The claim you'll see: Money or gifts distributed weeks before a vote, or delivered afterwards as thanks, described as outside the law.

What's actually true: Section 34 says "before, during or after an election" in terms. Section 33 reaches payments made after a vote on account of how somebody voted. The calendar is not a defence.

Why it spreads: People picture the offence as a scene at a polling station, so anything outside that scene feels like something else.

6. "It happened in a primary, so no law was broken"

The claim you'll see: Cash or gifts in a party primary or congress, waved away on the basis that internal party business is nobody else's concern.

What's actually true: Unsettled - and anyone stating it flatly either way is overreaching. The electoral offences are framed around public elections, which is why OccupyGhana is pressing Parliament to extend them to internal party contests. But the Office of the Special Prosecutor has opened investigations into the 2026 primaries of both major parties.

Why it spreads: A genuine gap in the law is being reported as though it were a licence. It is not the same thing, and the question is live.

WHAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO

  • Do not take it. The offence is complete at the taking, whatever you do in the booth afterwards.

  • Know who to tell. The Electoral Commission has said publicly that investigating vote-buying allegations falls outside its mandate, pointing instead to the security agencies and the Office of the Special Prosecutor. Report to the Ghana Police Service or the OSP.

  • Understand what the EC does: it runs the poll and can stop conduct it sees at a voting centre. It does not decide whether a crime was committed.

  • Keep evidence only where it is safe and lawful. Filming cash changing hands at a polling station can put you at real risk. Your safety comes before the recording.

  • Report threats, not just money. Force, restraint and threats of temporal or spiritual harm are undue influence under section 35, and they are badly under-reported.

  • Ask about purpose, not amount, when you are judging a claim you see online. That is the question the law asks.

  • Remember your ballot is secret under Article 49(1). Nobody can confirm how you voted, so nobody can enforce a bargain over it.

  • Check election information with the Electoral Commission rather than social media claims, and check what a section of the law says before repeating a claim about it.