Kennedy Agyapong, New Patriotic Party’s fire
brand and a great critic of Madam Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of Ghana’s
Electoral Commission (EC), has described the decision by the former to
disqualify 12 flagbearers from the 2016 General Election contest as a bold
one.Aside Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom’s Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and
Dr. Nasigri Mahama’s People National Convention’s (PNC) disqualifications which
he said saddens him, the Member of Parliament said the EC Chair has taken the
right step in bringing sanity into the December polls.
Meanwhile, Kwame
Anyimadu-Antwi, a lawyer in an interview has opined that the court can nullify
the EC’s decision to disqualify the aspirants from the December polls if it is
proven that the election body failed to draw their attention within the
stipulated time, to make corrections on their nomination forms.
But a
deputy Communications Director at EC, Yusif Ayuba, speaking on Citi FM on Monday
morning, argued that the Commission followed due procedure in vetting and
announcing the status of the respective political parties aspiring for
presidency in the upcoming General Elections, so they are not at
fault.
“We made it clear that they must make sure that they meet all the
requirements in law to be able to qualify to become candidates. For the forms
that they submitted to the Electoral Commission, we went through it and we
realized a number anomalies. Those who brought the forms early we notified them
to come and pick them and make sure that they do the correction and resubmit
them within the stipulated time in law,” he observed.
“The Electoral
Commission did its homework well. We did due diligence to the information that
they provided and based on the requirement of law, we disqualified persons who
did not meet those requirements,” he added.
Basing his comments on the
statement by the deputy communications director of which he believes it is true,
Kennedy Agyapong who was speaking on Badwam Political talk show on Adom TV on
Tuesday Morning, emphasized that the EC chair has not done anything wrong but
must be commended for her boldness.
When asked why he was being lenient
with Madam Charlotte Osei, for whom he has been criticizing ever since she was
appointed the EC chair, Kennedy Agyapong pointed out that, his comments tells
the world that he is discerning and not bias.
“I am not bias, I will
commend her when she is right and criticize her when the need be”, he stated.
He was however shocked that people were not concerned about the insults
flagbearer of All People’s Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga, has rained on the EC
chair, adding that it would have been a different thing altogether if he was the
one.
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