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According to the aggrieved members who lodged a formal complaint at the Tudu Police Station last week, it has come to their attention that their names and signatures were on the forms Dr. Rawlings submitted.

Pamela Noi, Nana Gyebi Adusei and Jeffrey Nii Yebuah Nortey confirmed to the regional commander Dampare that the signatures against their names were forged.
The others, who include, William Luterodt and Samuel Kwaatelai Quartey, have also confirmed that they never signed the forms in question.

The complainants say they sent a petition on the matter to the Party’s regional executives before the voting day but they were ignored.

Dr. Rawlings, daughter of the founder of NDC and former president, JJ Rawlings, contested the Klottey Korle NDC parliamentary primaries last year and has since been battling a court case challenging her eligibility to have contested the election.

After two attempts to have the case thrown out of the High Court failed, she has referred the case to the Supreme Court to quash the ruling of the High Court.

This move according to legal experts, is clearly to buy time since they are yet to understand the basis of the process in light of the facts of the case.

It is widely believed that the attempt to delay final judgment in the case, for Zanetor to be able to register during the upcoming limited registration exercise, even though the consensus among the legal fraternity is that her registration will not in any way affect the case.

It is rumoured that big wigs in the Party are attempting to intervene to block investigations into the forged signatures from taking place.

Source: myjoyonline.com

Although the EC says the new logo which sparked hue and cry in the last few weeks is yet to be approved, a certificate of operation issued by the Commission to APC on April 22 bore the new logo.

Consequently concerns are being raised about the legitimacy of the certificate  but Mr Ayariga says he’s unfazed as to him they have satisfied all the constitutional requirements as a political party.

“As far as APC is concerned, I have satisfied constitutional and the EC requirements and can contest the 2016 elections,” he Onua FM Friday.

The EC was hit with a backlash over its decision to replace the old logo of the Commission with a new one that has a close resemblance to that of a foreign educational institution in Turkey.

Mr. Amadu Sulley, Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Operations, is reported to have said the Commission has not reached a conclusive decision on whether or not to change its logo.

“The EC has not formally approved it to be used as its substantive logo” he was quoted to have said.
Contrary to the statement, the logo is being used by the Commission for official purposes as was evidenced by some informational brochures on the “revision of the voters register-2016” it produced.

But Mr Ayariga told Onua FM that until a court provides a judgment that the EC certificate issued him is not valid, “I will keep on campaigning and operate as a duly registered political party.

“We are choosing to focus on putting structures in place to win the 2016 elections rather than focus on the controversy surrounding the EC’s logo,” he said.

He claimed the “APC is the only party qualified to contest the 2016 elections because other parties have not satisfied the EC’S requirement; not even the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party have.”

“The certificate is now history, however, the most important thing is to organize the constituency and regional elections and then national congress to elect a flag-bearer.”

Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai, says the issue of the legitimacy of the APC certificate does not arise, arguing that once it has a genuine signature it is valid.

He explained that the Evidence Act (Act 323) requires that all correspondence from government agencies must have certain basic identity features such as an authentic signature.

“Therefore, the APC should not worry whether the logo matches the EC’s logo once its certificate carries a genuine signature.”

He said by using the logo in various communication materials, the EC has inevitably changed and approved the new logo as its logo, noting the EC does not need public approval to change its logo as it is an independent institution established by the constitution.

He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to double check any information bearing any of the EC’s logos in other to prevent falling prey to fraudsters.

Nii Okai Tetteh|Onua 95.1FM|3news.com

Known in the 2012 elections as JOY 2012, the engineer by profession says running again as an independent candidate will be contingent upon the outcome of talks among minor political parties.

“That is where the independent presidential system sits,” he indicated on TV3’s Agenda on Saturday, April 23.

JOY’s shot at the presidency in 2012 saw him poll 15,156 votes, representing 0.14 per cent of the total valid votes cast. He placed second-from-bottom.

The only candidate he beat was United Front Party’s Kwasi Addai Odike.

Mr Yeboah says firm discussions are ongoing to see if the minor political parties can come together as a single force.

“2012 it was the same thing. When it failed I decided to stand independent.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana