The Director in Charge of Policy for the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), KOfi Asamoah Siaw has taken a swipe at the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) stating that, it is the major conduit for the committal of of all electoral offences including perjury.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, the former general secretary of the party accused the EC of selective justice. According to him, the statutory declaration form for presidential candidates requires that, the candidates declare under oath that, they have declared their asserts.
In this particular instance, there were evidence before the Commission that, some of the candidates had not declared their asserts and yet they went ahead to swear an oath before a judge, a notary public or a commissioner of oath.”
He indicated that, some of the candidates rejected the assert declaration publicly adding, ”while we all know that lying under oath is a criminal offence under the laws of Ghana and the punishment is a maximum of 10 years in imprisonment and this can can found in the Criminal and Offences Act, 1960, Act 30. Yet the EC went ahead to receive the nomination forms with cheers and enthusiasm.” Mr. Siaw questioned the rationale behind EC’s decision to overlook the offence and pass the candidates.
”The question we are asking is that, why did the EC overlook these offence and pass these candidates without raising an issue? Is this not a matter of selective justice?” He further took a swipe at the Commissioner, Mrs. Charlotte Osei who he said, is a lawyer but failed to consider the issues they have raised.
”The EC chairperson is a lawyer and must know this. We understand that, Nana Akufo Addo did not comply with this requirement and we cite him for false declaration but he stands qualified per the EC’s decison as a presidential candidate. This is a clear application or clear selective application of EC’s bond laws.”
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