Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and Charlotte Osei
The Electoral Commission (EC) has appealed against the high court judgement ordering the commission to reinstate disqualified Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, standard bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).
The EC says it has filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the decision of a high court revoking Nduom’s disqualification from contesting in the December presidential poll.
“In the interest of public policy and the credibility of the electoral process, the commission has today [Monday, October 31, 2016] filed an application at the Supreme Court to quash the High Court decision and seek clarity on the relevant aspects of the law on candidate nominations,” a statement signed by Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, Head of Communication at the EC, said.
The commission said it believes in the overall national interest and on the grounds of public policy and that the Supreme Court provides clarity on the matter.
“A judgment from the Apex Court would effectively bring finality to the issue once and for all,” the statement added.
An Accra high court presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, on Friday, October 28, 2016 asked the electoral body to rescind its decision to disqualify Dr Nduom and ordered it to give him another opportunity to correct the errors on his nomination forms to enable him contest in the December 7 poll.
But the EC and its Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, say a big ‘No’ to the ruling.
The commission believes that as in other jurisdictions, presidential candidates must ensure the accuracy of the information on documents which they present under oath to public institutions and that failure to place this burden on the shoulders of the candidates would have serious implications for the country’s democratic growth and electoral justice.
The statement indicated, “Having carefully studied the contents of the judgment, we respectfully disagree with the high court judge’s decision on several essential legal and public policy grounds.
“The commission is of the firm conviction backed by the law, that candidates seeking the highest office of the land must take full responsibility for ensuring that their nomination forms meet the standard in form and substance, required by the law.”
The commission insists, “Falsified signatures on nomination forms constitute a matter for criminal investigation and are not mere anomalies or clerical errors, which should be pointed out to candidates for corrections to be effected.”
With 36 days to the general election, some Ghanaians wonder whether the EC is prepared to organize free and fair elections considering the lingering issues, but Ms Charlotte Osei and the EC have given assurance that the electoral time table will be adhered to.
EC Boss Must Go
Meanwhile, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu, is pushing for the resignation of the EC boss from her position.
He thinks her actions and inactions could plunge the nation into chaos if care was not taken.
In a statement, the man who prides himself as a ‘Citizen Vigilante,’ decried the several arbitrary decisions taken since assuming the position of EC boss, which ended up creating doubts about the impartiality of the elections organizing body, chief among which is the recent disqualification of some 13 presidential aspirants.
He had no kind words for the woman because in his opinion, “It is demonstrable failure and an indictment on the competence of the commissioner that only four of her class of 17 political parties and independent aspiring presidential candidates were able to understand and complete the nomination forms without error and to submit them at her own appointed time of 29th and 30th September, 2016.”
He said, “A casual reading of the reasons provided by the commissioner in that document leaves an ordinary reasonable person with the conclusion that the decision to disqualify each of the presidential candidates was premised upon an alleged non-compliance with Regulation 7 of the Public Elections Regulation, 2016 (C.I. 94)” and that “One walks away with the cogent and credible impression that the commissioner purportedly acted in pursuance of an alleged power of disqualification vested in her under Regulation 9(2) and (3) of C.I. 94.”
Impunity
“But even a fleeting perusal of Regulation 9 of C.I. 94 should have left any lazy reader with a firm conviction that the commissioner had no legal authority to invalidate the nomination of an aspiring candidate for president without first, giving the candidate the opportunity to alter or amend his or her improperly completed nomination forms,” he emphasized.
Mr Amidu said, “The common sense objections of the various aspiring candidates to their disqualification in violation of Regulation 9(2) of C.I. 94 were met with insolent language bordering on insults and impunity demonstrating the perceived omnipotence and infallibility of the commissioner in making her decisions.”
It was for this reason Mr Amidu said, “I have never in my long years of experience in the public service witnessed the degree of arrogance and impunity exhibited towards the respectable citizen aspiring presidential candidates who sought to reason with the commissioner to simply comply with the duties imposed upon her by the constitution and the laws governing the process.”
Schemes
For Mr Amidu, “This was clearly a scheme she designed to intimidate the aspiring candidates and frighten them with the police powers of the Executive from vindicating their rights before the courts. It should be everybody’s guess how she managed to recruit the Ghana Police Service which is currently under the control and direction of the partisan NDC Government to foster her agenda of harassing and intimidating these innocent citizens into accepting her unlawful decisions disqualifying them.
“As a matter of fact, her arbitrary and unlawful disqualification of 13 aspiring presidential candidates and her arrogant attitude towards those distinguished citizens and their political parties or supporters does not conduce to her image as an impartial arbiter of elections.”
According to him, “The decision in Ex Parte Papa Kwesi Nduom exposes her high handedness, incompetence, and inexperience as a public officer. It also does no credit to whatever agenda the appointing authority which is also contesting this presidential election had in mind in patronizing her to the important and critical office of impartiality as Electoral Commissioner under the Constitution.
“It is amazing that the Commissioner failed or refused to realize that her impunity in not complying with the Constitution and the law in disqualifying the aspiring candidates disclosed more about her failure as the head of the Electoral Commission than the ignorance or lack of attention on the part of the aspirants in filling the complex nomination forms designed by her office for the presidential elections.”
Hidden Agenda
For him, “The conduct of the commissioner in unlawfully disqualifying 13 aspiring presidential candidates appears to confirm the perception that she came to her job with the unconstitutional agenda of compelling the electorate to make a choice between the two major political parties (the NDC and the NPP who normally contest all parliamentary seats as well) at this year’s presidential election to demonstrate her perceived ability to organize a free and fair election without petitions.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu