Chair of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei
Civil society group, CitizenGhana Movement, has served notice it would not hesitate to take legal action against the Electoral Commission should it fail to furnish it with copies of the annual audited accounts, assets and revenues of all 24 registered political parties.
The group on March 30, 2017 wrote to the Electoral Commission to demand the documents pursuant to Article 55(14) of the 1992 Constitution as well as Section 14 of the Political Parties Act.
Article 55(14) states:
“Political parties shall be required by law-
(a) to declare to the public their revenues and assets and the sources of those revenues and assets; and
(b) to publish to the public annually their audited accounts.
It explained the demand for the information on the country’s registered political parties is in line with the group’s “push for more transparency in the body politic of Ghana”
In a statement issued Tuesday, CitizenMovement Ghana said “We at CGM consider this move as critical in the overall fight against corruption.
“The opaque political party finance system is at the heart of the complex of political patronage and allows the likes of Alfred Agbesi Woyome and Selasi Ibrahim to be awarded fraudulent contracts as repayments for their campaign contributions,” the statement said.
It said the group is hopeful Electoral Commission would respect their constitutional right to information and accordingly provide it with the information requested.
“We shall however not hesitate to proceed to the courts of law to enforce this right should the Electoral Commission fail to grant our request,” it warned.
It has meanwhile called on all Ghanaians to join in combating what it termed as “opaque political party finance and the harmful system of patronage it fuels”.