The All People's Congress (APC) party will go to court to demand sanctions against political parties that have defaulted on the law should the Electoral Commission (EC) fail to crack the whip.
That is according to party founder, Hassan Ayariga who says his party today is the biggest political party in Ghana.
The Electoral Commission in April demanded that all political parties submit by 31st May, audited annual financial accounts in compliance with the Political Parties Law, Act 574. However, only seven of the 24 were officially known to have complied with the directive as at the expiration of the ultimatum.
They were the:
Progressive People’s Party (PPP) Convention People’s Party (CPP) National Democratic Party (NDP) Democratic People’s Party (DPP) Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) Independent People’s Party (IPP) and United Front Party (UFP)
Defaulting parties included the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the largest opposition the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the People’s National Convention (PNC) from which Ayariga broke away to form the APC.
Consequences for non-compliance with the Political Parties Law include the withdrawal of certificates of the offending political parties.
The APC, the youngest political party which received its final certificate to commence business as a fully registered political party only recently, was not part of the parties expected to submit their accounts because they had just started operating.
But Ayariga, who was speaking on Radio Gold on Thursday, said within the three months of its formation, his party is complying fully with the political parties law while those established long ago but unserious, are defaulting.
“If a political party is serious, the first thing you are supposed to do is to satisfy the constitutional requirement of your land, ok, because that is the same constitution that you are going to use to work… so if you don’t believe in that constitution what other constitution do you want to believe in? That shows you are not a serious political party. Seriousness has something to do with abiding by laws and regulations and commitment to our land and constitution so any party contrary to that is not a serious political party, in my opinion”, he said.
<<Print>>