Minority asks Attorney General to withdraw "illegal directives"

The Minority in Parliament on Tuesday called on the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to immediately withdraw what it described as "illegal directives" he gave to District Chief Executives [DCEs] on the conduct of the District Level Elections.

The Minority asked the Attorney General, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to call on the DCEs to halt their current open interference in the forthcoming assembly elections.

A statement issued in Parliament and signed by the Deputy Minority Whip, Mr John Tia alleged that the Attorney General had "asserted that the District Level

Elections have always been partisan." It said as the law stood now it was illegal to campaign on party lines in the forthcoming elections."

The statement said the Attorney General was reported to have encouraged the DCEs to go all out to campaign for candidates, who were inclined towards the NPP Government's ideology of "Positive Change".

The statement said; "since this exhortation by the Attorney General, DCEs all over the country have been openly and visibly campaigning for pro-NPP candidates." It said this "has triggered a natural response from other parties and political groups who have also started openly campaigning for their supporters to get elected."

The Minority described the alleged behaviour of the Attorney - General as "blatant disregard for the law and symptomatic of the NPP's general disregard for rules and procedure as revealed in the recent audit report on the Special Projects Fund, where laid down procedures for disbursements of funds were brazenly disregarded."

The statement congratulated the Electoral Commission (EC) for disqualifying a candidate, who persisted in displaying a certificate of honour by the NPP on campaign platform in the Kwabenakwa Electoral Area of Adansi West District in Ashanti.

Nana Akufo-Addo in statement to the Ghana News Agency said: "As Attorney General and Minister of Justice, who is entrusted with the responsibility of upholding and enforcing respect for the Constitution and all other laws in the land, is committed to discharging those responsibilities to the best of his ability.

"He, therefore, categorically denies making any of the statements allegedly attributed to him. "He encouraged the DCEs to endeavour to ensure that only competent people with proven track record, whom they could work with to develop their districts, were elected to the District Assemblies and Unit Committees.

"This can by no stretch of imagination be interpreted to mean "NPP sympathisers" as there are competent people whose sympathies lie with other political parties. The statement said: "It is undeniable fact that under the NDC, District Assembly Elections were openly conducted on a partisan basis in flagrant contravention of the Constitution.

"The NPP administration is, however, committed to entrenching respect for the rule of law at the very core of the nation's body politic and the Attorney General as the principal legal adviser to the Government, will in no way advocate any course of action which will flout the law." The statement described the allegations as malicious and intended to score cheap political points.