The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, has called on the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu to prosecute the National Democratic Congress (NDC) executives for breaching the country’s Political Party Act 2000 (PPA 2000).
The opposition party further wants the Electoral Commission of Ghana to act accordingly and sanction the ruling party for contravening the rules and regulations governing the founding and funding political parties in this country.
Speaking exclusively to The Chronicle in Kumasi, Owusu Afriyie stated that the recent donations made by the Chinese Communist Party to the NDC clearly contravenes Acts 23,24 and 25 of the Political Parties Act 2000, which bars any political party in Ghana from receiving funding, be it cash or in kind, from foreign countries or non-citizens.
The ruling party, on April 17, 2010, was reported to have taken delivery of office equipment worth over $40,000 from the Chinese Communist Party.
The items, which included 15 sets of computers, multipurpose copiers, fax machines and telephones were said to have been received by the ruling party at its National Headquarters in Accra.
According to the NPP General Secretary, the donation and acceptance of the items was a direct contravention of the rules and regulations as stipulated in the Act and is, therefore, calling on the Attorney General and the Electoral Commission to initiate legal actions against the ruling party.
“It is very clear the NDC has contravened the PPA (2000) and must be subjected to prosecution without delay. We must not allow any political party to breach the laws of this country with impunity,” he charged.
Article 23 (1 &2) of the Political Party Act, passed by Parliament on February 23, 2000, stipulates that “only a citizen may contribute in cash or kind to the funds of a political party”.
“A firm, partnership, or enterprise owned by a citizen or a company registered under the laws of the Republic, at least 75% of whose capital is owned by a citizen, is for the purposes of this Act, a citizen.”
Article 24 (1) of the Act further states that “A non-citizen shall directly or indirectly make a contribution or donation or loan, whether in cash or in kind, to the fund held by or for the benefit of a political party, and no political party or person acting for or on behalf of a political party, shall demand or accept a contribution, donation or loan from a non-citizen.”
Act 25 (1, 2 and 3) of the provision also specifies sanctions to be applied any political party or individuals who flout sections 23 and 24 of the Act. “Where any person contravenes section 23 or 24, in addition to any penalty that may be imposed under this Act, any amount, whether cash or in kind paid in contravention of the section shall be recovered from the political party as debt owed to the State. The political party or person in whose custody the amount is for the time being held shall pay it to the state.”
Act 25 (2)- A non- citizen found guilty of contravention of section 24 shall be deemed to be a prohibited immigrant and liable to deportation under the Aliens Act 1963 (Act 160).
While Act 25 (3) also states that “The provisions of the sections 23 and 24 do not preclude of any country or a non-government organization form providing assistance in cash or in kind to the Commission for use by the Commission for the collection benefit of registered political parties.
Sir John further made reference to section 29 (clause 1,2,3,4 and 5) of the Act which stipulates that – “Any person who contravenes a provision of this Act commits an offence.”
“2 – Any person who in furnishing particulars or information required to be furnished by a political party or by him under this Act makes a statement which he knows to be false or which he has no reason to believe to be true or makes a false statement reckless whether it true or not commits an offence.
“3 – Any offence under this Act unless otherwise specifically provided for, shall be punishable with a fine not exceeding ten million cedis or a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or both.
“4- Where an offence under this Act is committed by a political party every executive officer of that party shall also be guilty of that offence.”
“5 – Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body of persons other than a political party, then; a. In the case of a body corporate other than a partnership, every director and secretary of the body corporate shall also be guilty of the offence.
The NPP scribe, however, refused to comment further when asked about what action his party would take should the A-G fail to heed their call, stressing “we will cross the bridge when we get there, but I promise you we will make sure the right thing is done because we all want to strengthen our multi-party democracy.”
“This is not a matter of secrecy; we are all witnesses to the incident and the constitutional provision is clear for all of us to see, the A-G can not claim to be oblivious of it,” he emphasized.
