The Presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom says there is nothing to be gained by the Electoral Commission if it decides to appeal against a court order overturning his disqualification.
“I don’t know what they will gain by doing so”, he said while welcoming the Commission’s right to appeal just as it was in his right to sue the EC.
The Commission has not ruled out an appeal against the High Court decision last Friday ordering the EC to allow Dr. Nduom to correct errors that formed the basis of his disqualification from the 2016 presidential elections.
Dr. Nduom told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday he expects his legal team to meet with the Electoral Commission to determine how to enforce the order.
He said the PPP has carefully thought through the steps it has to take to amend the mistakes and therefore does not expect any problems with the EC concerning his nomination papers.
While Nduom has prevailed in court against the EC, his troubles are not yet over. There are two pending investigations into allegations that one signature on his nomination forms was forged and another demanding that he reveals the source of his campaign funds.
He said he has given a statement to the police after they contacted him over the forgery allegations made by the Electoral Commission.
“I have a clear mind, a clean heart, there is nothing that I want to hide from anybody”, he pleaded his innocence.
He said he is not taking the allegations from the EC lightly because it is an attempt to soil his reputation. As a businessman with huge business interests in Africa, Europe and the US, it is imperative for him to defend his integrity, he said.
“I have worked too hard in my life to sit there to have anybody go and impugn my character, my behaviour and my being”, he stressed.
Dr. Nduom who has been asked by the state to explain his sources of campaign funds also dismissed the investigations into the matter.
The politician paid GH¢1,750,000 as filing fees for himself and the parliamentary candidates of the PPP.
In a letter from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), it said it had taken up investigations on the authority of the Auditor-General.
“What is the Auditor-General’s business in my private affairs?” he said.
He said questions about his source of campaign funds should be a matter of interest for the Electoral Commission and not the Auditor-General or EOCO.
“What I do in politics is governed by the Political Parties Act [and] it gives authority to the Electoral Commission to be interested in how the PPP funds the party,” Dr. Nduom observed.
He said in every election he has participated in, he has submitted a statement on how he funds his campaigns six months after the elections in accordance with the law.
He promised to comply with the law after the 2016 elections. “So what’s the beef of EOCO?”
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