Two respected lawyers have described the Progressive Peoples Party’s presentation of their filing fee to the Electoral Commission as defeatist in their injunction case which barred the commission from collecting nominations fees.
According lawyer John Akparibu Ndebugri, who is also a former member of parliament for the Zebila constituency, the party’s decision to send the filing fee and present it to the commission was indirectly shooting themselves in the foot.
Siding with what Mr. Ndebugri said, a former Attorney General under the Kufour administration, Nii Ayikoi Otoo added that the PPP had punctured holes in its own case even before hearing begins adding that the lawyers of the party should have advised against the move since they (PPP) took the matter to court.
Both lawyers were speaking on TV3’s political program – Eye On The Seat which airs every Sunday at 6pm.
Mr. Ndebugri said “there is an injunction against the Electoral Commission receiving these monies until 11th October when the matter has been heard and determined. So for you [PPP], before 11th October to go and tender, then you’re actually in contempt of court.”
Agreeing with him, the former Attorney General said “it amounts to some level of acquiescence. You [PPP] have said you cannot pay or you think it is too high, it is capricious… so you’ve gone to court then all of a sudden you’ve gone to court and you’ve gone to pay…
“They are those who went to court and they’re the same people who say we want to pay so what is the effect of that?” he queried”.
The Electoral Commission refused to collect the filing fees from presidential and parliamentary candidates for the 2016 elections because the PPP had secured an injunction against the fees which the party said was too high.
But in what was a surprise move on the part of the EC, it collected the fees of the PPP, the party that had placed an injunction on the collection of the filing fees.
The EC however refused to give back the bankers draft to the party for reasons yet to be known. The party however says it did not intend to trap the EC but are heading to court again over the matter.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @3newsgh