Political parties fail to submit audited account

The Electoral Commission revealed on Thursday that political parties which contested the 2000 elections have not submitted their audited accounts as required by the electoral law. The parties were to submit their audited accounts to the commission by June 30, a source told the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

The law says: "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 or risk cancellation of its registration.

"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 said seven months after the elections the parties have turned a blind eye to the law.

It said law also requires political parties to inform EC about other sources of funding including contributions or donations in cash or kind and property, adding that these are constitutional and statutory provisions that the parties are required to meet and make available to the commission for verification.

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

The source explained that only a citizen might contribute in cash or kind to a party without limitation. Foreigners are not allowed to contribute financially to any political party.

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

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.

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

Some of the political parties claimed that they have not submitted any audited account 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 and this generated heated debate among the parties.

Therefore, the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) suggested to the commission to adopt a uniform modality, but this is yet to be formulated.