Effah Darteh's ¢250million Up in Smoke!

The filing fee of ¢250million paid by Captain (Rt.) Nkrabeah Effah Darteh, would not be refunded to him after having been disqualified from being a presidential aspirant of the NPP.

In an interview with the Accra-based newspaper Accra Daily Mail(ADM) last week, an executive member of the party, Mr. Lord Commey said, "no money would be paid to him".

He said, "They all knew the rules of the game, so I don't think Captain would be asking for that".

Lord Commey, who is also the National Organizer of the party said decisions taken by the vetting committee were in the interest of the party.

"Before the list came out, I told you that if the committee says we should disqualify someone and we see that it is justifiable, we will so this is not a "kululu" thing. NPP is supreme and must always remain", he said.

The party, he said, would like to present a candidate, who by the constitution of the party and Ghana is qualified to be president.

Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh, one of the many presidential aspirants was disqualified from the race last Friday.

While in the race he campaigned on a platform of better governance, law and order and human development.

He paid ¢5million for the application forms and ¢250million as filing fees bringing his total commitment to ¢255million, which he now forfeits.

Because there is no auditing mechanism for campaign spending, the retired captain's expenses so far cannot be verified but after several months of campaigning, he must have lost a fortune.

The NPP vetting committee disqualified the retired captain based on his previous record of an attempted coup against the government of Dr. Hilla Limann when he was an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.

The report of the committee says he was convicted of treason by a military court in 1981. Article 62 clause 94 of the National Constitution bars any person with a record of treason from contesting for president.

Although the retired captain was granted pardon for the offence, the committee decided he couldn't be allowed to contest because the 1992 Constitution of Ghana bars any person once charged with a treasonable offence from seeking the highest office of the land.