Mahama could be dragged to court for fraud

The Electoral Commission has said it will ensure that presidential nominees who supervised some form of forgeries in relation to their endorsement forms are prosecuted.

The EC, on Monday, October 10, 206 disqualified the nominations of some 13 presidential aspirants because they failed to meet the required criteria.

At a news conference in Accra, Madam Osei said per the criteria, presidential candidates are expected to get 432 registered voters to endorse their nomination forms, and this must include two voters from every administrative district across the country.

Aspirants are also expected to submit for consideration a statutory declaration detailing their residential information as well as providing information about their running mates.
However, the EC argued that the People’s National Convention and the All Peoples Congress failed to meet the requirements and could face prosecution over some ‘misconduct’ in the forms.
On Hassan Ayariga’s disqualification, the EC Chair said: “The candidate did not provide evidence on his statutory declaration as to his hometown or residence in the constituency as per the legal requirements.
As reported by pulse gh

“Two subscribers to Dr. Ayariga’s nominations also subscribed for another presidential candidate. This is in breach of Regulation 7(4) of CI 94. The implication is that the two subscribers are disqualified and therefore, Dr. Ayariga does not have the requisite number of subscribers under Regulation 7(2) (b) of CI 94. The details of the duplicate subscribers are as follows:

Abaako Issifu (page 103)

Voter ID number 2988006876

PS code: J110202

Abudu Ayuba(page 95)

Voter ID number 6303005554

PS code: H200201

In addition, the signatures of both voters are different on the two nomination forms. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of those signatures.

The EC also indicated that it was unable to accept Edward Mahama’s forms for the following reasons:

Many subscribers did not properly sign the forms. Thumbprints, signatures or marks were omitted all together. For instance, no signatures on Page 16, 24, 28.
Two subscribers to Dr. Mahama’s nominations also subscribed for another presidential candidate. These are:
Abaako Issifu (page 103)

Voter ID number 2988006876

PS code: J110202

Abudu Ayuba (page 95)

Voter ID number 6303005554

PS code: H200201

As stated earlier, the signatures of both voters are different on the two nomination forms. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of those signatures.

She said the alleged culprits involving the two parties – PNC and APC could be dragged to court for perjury and fraud.

“We will refer the matter of the possible forgeries of these signatures to the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney General for investigation and prosecution in line with the following sections of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29):

Section 211: Perjury

Section 248: making false declaration etc. for office or voting;

Section 251: Deceiving a public officer

Section 256: Corruption, Intimidation and personation in respect of election

The Electoral Commission (EC) has rejected the nominations of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings of National Democratic Party and 11 other presidential candidates in the upcoming December polls.

The other rejected political parties are; Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), United Progressive Party (UPP), Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD), and the Great Consolidated People’s Party (GCPP). The rest include; United Front Party (UFP), All People’s Congress (APC), and the Independent People’s Party (IPP).

The four presidential candidates who successfully went through the process are the flagbearers of the New Patriotic Party, National Democratic Congress, Convention People’s Party (CPP) and an independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah.