Ghanaian Times Editorial: EC must crack whip on errand political parties

In the Political Parties Act (574) passed in 2000 under section 51(1), it is clearly stipulated that “ within 90 days after the issuance of final certificate of registration, a political party shall furnish the Electoral Commission (EC) with details of existence and location of its national, regional, district and constituency offices in order to have national character and appeal”.

Furthermore, the Act in Clause 3 under the same section 15 states categorically that the EC has the authority to cancel the registration of any political party if it fails to adhere to the directive.

For some strange reasons however, 25 out of the 27 political parties are said to have flouted the EC law and still remain on the list of the EC as registered political parties.

This is in spite of an audit conducted which revealed that only two political parties are in good standing or are operating lawfully in the country.

In the face of clear evidence that the political parties are in breach of the Political Parties Act, it is baffling that they remain on the books of the EC.

It is difficult to understand why political parties who want to rule the country cannot abide by the rules governing the operation of a political party in the country.

As stated by law, all political parties are expected to have offices at the national, regional, district and constituency level to be seen to have a national character.

This, many of the political parties have literally failed to do.

The Ghanaian Times is disappointed that the EC has looked on for these political parties to operate without satisfying the legal conditions prescribed for them.

We are concerned that political parties that cannot adhere to the rules and regulations governing the operation of political parties would have the courage to campaign for political power and expect the electorate to vote for them.

In all honesty, it is not a good sign that we have only two political parties out of the 27 registered parties doing what is expected of them.

The country’s democracy is poorer for it because the diversity of ideas that democratic tenets espouse would be lacking in areas that only two of the 27 political parties are operating.

This is not good enough.

We urge the EC as a matter of urgency to purge the list of the political parties by removing those who cannot meet the demands to be removed immediately.

All the political parties must respect the laws and abide by it.