Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has filed a suit against the Electoral Commission (EC) following the disqualification of its flag bearer, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, from contesting in the December 7 general elections.
Dr. Nduom’s party wants the High Court to restrain the Charlotte Osei-led commission from going ahead to conduct balloting for the already-cleared candidates until the court has determined whether or not the EC’s decision to reject Dr. Nduom’s nomination is lawful.
The suit, in which Dr. Nduom is an ex-parte applicant, cites Ms Charlotte Osei in her capacity as the Returning Officer for the Presidential Election as the first defendant and the commission as the second defendant.
The PPP, which has assembled a team of lawyers, led by former Attorney General, Joseph Ayikoi Otoo, is seeking “an order of prohibition to restrain the EC from proceeding with balloting for positions of presidential candidates for the 7th December elections.”
They are seeking “a further order directed against the 1st Respondent in her capacity as Returning Officer for presidential elections to grant the Applicant the opportunity to amend and alter the one anomaly found in Dr. Nduom’s nomination papers, as well as accept his nomination papers as amended or altered to enable him to contest as a presidential candidate for the 7th December, 2016 elections.”
In the writ, the PPP said J. Ayikoi Otoo would move a motion praying for an order for a judicial review by way of certiorari to bring to the court the decision of the EC of 10th October, 2016, which disqualified the Applicant as a presidential candidate for the 2016 general election and have the decision quashed by the court.
The PPP is asking the court to overturn the EC’s decision on the grounds that there was a “breach of the rules of natural justice, error apparent on the face of the record, and “failing to live the requirement as imposed by law.”
Dr. Nduom was rejected by the EC together with 12 other presidential aspirants for failing to fill their forms correctly.
Prior to this court action, he had met with the EC Chairperson to impress on her to rescind her decision, but the meeting ended in a deadlock and an official of the commission was later quoted as saying that the PPP flag bearer did not bring anything new for the commission to rescind its decision.
Even before the disqualification, the PPP had dragged the EC to court for charging exorbitant fees for both the presidential and the parliamentary slots.
The party said the GH¢50,000 fee for presidential candidates and GH¢10,000 for parliamentary aspirants were capricious and arbitrary use of power by the EC, but the Accra High Court dismissed the application and deferred the reasons for the dismissal.
The PPP also had a contempt suit against the EC for collecting the filing fee for its flag bearer, even before the court ruled on the injunction suit.
EOCO Petition
Later, the party again filed a complaint against the commission at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Auditor General’s Department for issuing a false receipt to the party.
Dr. Nduom said on Adom FM that “we gave the EC GH¢1,700,000 as payment for our parliamentary candidates but we were issued with a receipt of GH¢1,700.00 by the commission…I acknowledge that is a mistake.”
Later the party’s Communication Director, Paa Kow Ackon, confirmed that “we have written a letter to the Auditor General and EOCO to investigate the EC because it is dangerous if we have an EC who can issue false receipts to a political party.”
Dr Nduom has vowed to do everything possible to fight his disqualification by the commission and had said variously that the EC trampled on his right by preventing him from taking part in the contest to be Ghana’s president on January 7, 2017.
Peace Council
The PPP has also appealed to the National Peace Council to call the EC to order.
At a news conference in Accra yesterday, PPP Policy Analyst, Kofi Asamoah Siaw, said the posture of the EC demonstrates that it is “out of control.”
“We need to reverse this trend [because] the entrenched and belligerent posture will only lead this country to a point of no return,” he told the media.
Mr Siaw urged the “silent majority in the country, the National Chief Imam, the Christian Council of Ghana, the National Peace Council and the Ghana Bar Association to call the EC to order.”
Meanwhile, EC boss, Charlotte Osei, at a press briefing on Monday, said the commission would be unable to accept the nomination of Dr Nduom because he was not able to raise the 432 subscribers expected to endorse his nomination due to some anomalies discovered on his forms.
She said, “One subscriber, Richard Aseda (‘Asida’ on the Voters’ Register), with Voter ID no 7812003957), endorsed the forms in two different districts (pages 21 and 39). The subscriber was found to be on the Voter’s Register in one district thereby disqualifying his second subscription and reducing the total number of subscribers to below the minimum required by the Law.
“The same subscriber, Richard Aseda (‘Asida’) endorsed the form with different signatures in both portions of the nomination forms. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of one or both signatures.”
Mr Siaw also said they discovered some mistakes in the nomination forms given them by the EC’s Akuapim North District office, but instead of making fuss about it, they called the EC to have it resolved amicably.
He believed the EC could have reciprocated this gesture in an equal measure rather than the harsh decision it took against the party’s leader.
By William Yaw Owusu