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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