Parties to submit audited account by June ending

The Electoral Commission on Thursday said that political parties which contested the 2000 elections have up to the end of June to submit audited accounts for last year.

A reliable source told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra that the electoral law specifies that a political party shall within six months from December 31st of each year file with the Commission a return indicating the state of its accounts, the source of its funds and membership dues paid.

He said the Commission should also be informed about contributions or donations in cash or kind, property and time of acquisition and audited accounts for the year.

The source said these are constitutional and statutory provisions that the parties are required to meet and make available to the Commission for verification.

The Act specifies that this shall be supported by a statutory declaration made by the national treasurer and the national or general secretary of the party.

The Act reads: "Without prejudice to any other penalty prescribed by the Act or any other enactment, where a political party refuses or neglects to comply with the provision or submits a declaration that is false in any material, the Commission may cancel its registration."

The source explained that only a citizen might contribute in cash or kind to the parties, adding that there is no limitation to how much a person contributes. Foreigners are not allowed to contribute financially to any political party.

The source stressed that any person or company that contravenes the constitutional provision on funding of political parties would forfeit to the state such amount.

The party or individual, in whose custody the amount is, shall pay it to the state.

According to the Act, a non-citizen found guilty of contravention of the provision shall be deemed to be a prohibited immigrant and liable to deportation under the Aliens Act.

The parties that contested the elections were the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the People's National Convention (PNC) and Convention People's Party (CPP).

The rest were the National Reform Party (NRP), United Ghana Movement and Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP).

Most of the parties have not furnished the EC with their audited account, updated records on party officials at the national, regional and district offices since 1996. This is in spite of the fact that the initial list submitted to the commission for registration has changed.

Some of the political parties explained to the GNA that they have not submitted any audited account to the EC since 1996 because the commission failed to come out with a unified modality for the parties.

They said accounts submitted by some political parties in 1996 did not reflect their expenditure for the elections, which generated a heated debate among the parties.

The parties, therefore, suggested at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting to adopt a uniform modality, but this is yet to be formulated.

Meanwhile, the Commission is yet to publish the nation-wide assessment of political parties conducted in July 2000.

The assessment was to ensure that their operations were in conformity with constitutional provisions and the Political Parties Law (Act 574).

An EC official said the report was delayed because of the pressure on the commission for the December 2000 elections and the impact it would have had on the electoral process.

He could, however, not explain the seeming delay in its publication five months after the elections.