The Electoral Commission (EC) risks being hauled before court if it goes ahead with its intention to withdraw the licences of political parties that fail to furnish the commission with their audited accounts and other relevant documents, as well as disqualifies those that fail to meet the requirement of having offices in two-thirds of the country’s districts.

The EC in January 2016 issued a communiqué warning political parties to furnish it with their audited accounts and also have the mandatory representation in two-thirds of all districts by May 31, 2016, or have their licences revoked.

But Professor Edmund Delle, National Chairman of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), has said the EC’s decision will only cripple Ghana’s democracy because the smaller parties have key roles to play in the political discourse of the country.

According to him, “With modern technology, you could actually have virtual offices, so it may take us to the Supreme Court to define what we mean by ‘organisation’ and what we mean by ‘having your physical presence’…”

He told Class91.3FM’s Paa Kwesi Parker-Wilson on Monday, May 30: “Even though CPP is ready to comply, we are talking of a multi-party democracy, so, at least, there should be dialogue [between] the EC and these smaller parties,” adding: “If it means probably giving them extensions to meet [the deadline, at least] two months minimum [that’ll be OK]. I don’t think we will be happy eliminating the smaller parties; they have a role to play… I think the smaller parties have something to contribute to the democracy.”

Prof Delle further said: “They [smaller parties] add value to our multi-party democracy. I don’t share the opinions of those who actually want to eliminate them. If they [EC] do not [give an extension], it is likely that some of these smaller parties can take the case to court.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr. Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond, has disagreed with the CPP Chair on the point that the implementation of the law would dent Ghana’s democratic credentials.

He said: “A nation strives to be law abiding, the PPP wants to be law-abiding, and we want to get everyone to believe that the best way to develop this nation is to be law-abiding.”

He told Parker-Wilson that the PPP had complied with the electoral laws; therefore, other political parties had to do same.

“We have complied, we have our offices, and we have met the [requirement] and we are waiting for the EC to conduct its inspection. Our financial statement has been accounted for and we have received acknowledgement letters,” he said, further indicating that: “We are not asking the EC to do anything against the parties, but they should enforce the law. The EC has the right to audit any political party. …The key thing is that we will want the EC to enforce the law that has been lying idle for the past twenty-four years. The EC must operationalise the law, whatever form it is, let them ensure that the law is enforced, that parties are submitting; that the parties are meeting the provisions for the offices.”

For his part, Mohammed Frimpong, General Secretary of the National Democratic Party noted that: “The NDP has complied with many aspects of the demand, not only the offices but the audited accounts, which we had done long ago.” “We don’t have a problem about it,” he said.

He, however, noted that it would be a daunting task for the EC to withdraw the licences of political parties that are unable to meet the requirement.

“It is a process. If you look at the Political Parties’ Law 2000, it’s a long process, so it’s not as if by close of tomorrow [Tuesday] if nobody does that then immediately the licences are withdrawn,” he said.