We are saddened by Aggudey’s incarceration – CPP

"It came to us as a shock", the Convention People’s Party said of the incarceration of its former presidential candidate, George Oposika Agudey.

Third Vice Chairman of the CPP, Oteng Anane, told Joy News that "anything that happens to Aggudey happens to us as a party".

The 2004 flagbearer of the CPP who finished last out of four candidates, winning 1.0% of the votes, was jailed three months by an Accra circuit court on Saturday.

He has been ordered to pay GHS2.6m he owed the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). He will also pay a fine of 500 penalty units.

He was convicted for failing to pay the social security contributions of his workers at Gocrest Security Company as required by Act 766 of the National Pensions Act, 2008. SSNIT deems the non-payment of social security contribution of workers by employers as a violation of human rights.

In August 2009, 14 former workers of Gocrest Security Services also dragged the company to the National Labour Commission (NLC) to demand entitlements due them, which the company was refusing to pay.

Nonetheless, Ernest Oteng Anane thinks the matter "is a personal business of Mr. Aggudey and has nothing to do with the CPP".

Although, Mr. Aggudey is also a known financier of the party, the third Vice Chairman of the party insists that the incarceration of their former flagbearer will not affect the finances of the party.

"Everybody who is a party member is part of the financial system of the party because this is a party which is not bankrolled by only one person".

He said there have been other flagbearers of the party since Aggudey who also support the party.