Accra, Nov. 6, GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday warned political parties that continued to flout the Political Parties Act and Articles 55 and 56 of the 1992 Constitution of the legal implications of their actions.
Mr Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka, Deputy Chairman (Operations,) said the Commission would apply full rigours of the law to ensure conformity and expunge the names of the non-performing political parties from the register.
He was contributing to discussions at a symposium on: "Ghanaian Political Parties: Party Perspectives on the Public Financing of Political Parties," organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra.
Representatives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); National Democratic Congress (NDC); Convention People's Party (CPP); People's National Convention (PNC) and Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP). Mr Kantanka said Articles 55 and 56 of the Constitution and the Political Parties Law; and PNDCL 281 provided the main legal framework for the formation and operation of political parties in the country.
"Some political parties have flouted the constitutional provisions and the Political Parties Law (Act 574) with impunity, the honeymoon is over and the Commission would deal drastically with any political party that flouts the laws again," he said.
The law says: "A political party shall, within six months from December 31 of each year, file with the Commission a return indicating the state of its accounts; the sources of its funds and membership dues paid or risk the cancellation of its registration."
Mr Kantanka said: "Without prejudice to any other penalty prescribed by the Act or any other enactment, where a political party refuses or neglects to comply with the provision or submits a declaration that is false in any material, the Commission may cancel its registration."
The law explicitly empowers the Commission to withdraw the certificate of parties that failed to comply with the directive. These are constitutional and statutory provisions that the parties are required to make available to the Commission for verification. Mr Justice Kwame Afreh, a Retired Supreme Court Judge and a participant, said the Commission had no excuse for allowing the parties to flout the laws over the years.
Reacting to the accusation, Mr Kantanka said, even though, the Commission was empowered by law to withdraw the certificate of any party that failed to comply with the law, the EC in the past resorted to dialogue.
He said a strict enforcement of the law could have jeopardised the country's evolving democracy: "Imagine the implication of withdrawing the certificates of all the political parties in the country. It will create a constitutional crisis."
The political parties that flouted the law were, NPP, NDC, CPP, PNC, GCPP, National Reform Party (NRP) and Democratic People's Party (DPP).
The rest were: United Ghana Movement (UGM), Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE) and the Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP). 06 Nov. 03
Accra, Nov. 6, GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday warned political parties that continued to flout the Political Parties Act and Articles 55 and 56 of the 1992 Constitution of the legal implications of their actions.
Mr Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka, Deputy Chairman (Operations,) said the Commission would apply full rigours of the law to ensure conformity and expunge the names of the non-performing political parties from the register.
He was contributing to discussions at a symposium on: "Ghanaian Political Parties: Party Perspectives on the Public Financing of Political Parties," organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra.
Representatives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); National Democratic Congress (NDC); Convention People's Party (CPP); People's National Convention (PNC) and Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP). Mr Kantanka said Articles 55 and 56 of the Constitution and the Political Parties Law; and PNDCL 281 provided the main legal framework for the formation and operation of political parties in the country.
"Some political parties have flouted the constitutional provisions and the Political Parties Law (Act 574) with impunity, the honeymoon is over and the Commission would deal drastically with any political party that flouts the laws again," he said.
The law says: "A political party shall, within six months from December 31 of each year, file with the Commission a return indicating the state of its accounts; the sources of its funds and membership dues paid or risk the cancellation of its registration."
Mr Kantanka said: "Without prejudice to any other penalty prescribed by the Act or any other enactment, where a political party refuses or neglects to comply with the provision or submits a declaration that is false in any material, the Commission may cancel its registration."
The law explicitly empowers the Commission to withdraw the certificate of parties that failed to comply with the directive. These are constitutional and statutory provisions that the parties are required to make available to the Commission for verification. Mr Justice Kwame Afreh, a Retired Supreme Court Judge and a participant, said the Commission had no excuse for allowing the parties to flout the laws over the years.
Reacting to the accusation, Mr Kantanka said, even though, the Commission was empowered by law to withdraw the certificate of any party that failed to comply with the law, the EC in the past resorted to dialogue.
He said a strict enforcement of the law could have jeopardised the country's evolving democracy: "Imagine the implication of withdrawing the certificates of all the political parties in the country. It will create a constitutional crisis."
The political parties that flouted the law were, NPP, NDC, CPP, PNC, GCPP, National Reform Party (NRP) and Democratic People's Party (DPP).
The rest were: United Ghana Movement (UGM), Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE) and the Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP). 06 Nov. 03
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