I can't tell if Nana declared assets - Dzakpasu

The Communications Director of the Electoral Commission, Mr Eric Dzakpasu has said “I wouldn’t know” if the flagbearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) declared his assets per the requirement of the election management body for presidential nominees.

“Whether Nana Addo Danwka [Akufo-Addo] of the NPP declared his assets or not, I’m not in a position to tell,” Mr Dzakpasu told Prince Minkah on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday, 17 October in an interview.

“The Commission, as informed by the Returning Officer in the person of the Chairperson, scrutinised all these forms and then came to a conclusion on the merit of each form that was submitted to the commission, so, I wouldn’t know where some other person has some other information contrary to the position of the commission, so, I wouldn’t be in a position to address this particular issue,” Mr Dzakpasu added when responding to accusations by the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) the EC allowed Mr Akufo-Addo to sail through the nomination process despite failing to meet that legal requirement.

Apart from Dr Nduom, the 12 other aspirants who got disqualified include the flag bearer of the All People's Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga; Dr Edward Mahama of the People's National Convention (PNC); Dr Agyenim Boateng of the United Front Party (UFP); Kofi Akpaloo of the Independent People's Party (IPP); Kwabena Adjei of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD); and Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP).

Others include Dr Henry Lartey fo the Great Consolidate Popular Party (GCPP); Mr Richard Nixon Tetteh (United Development Systems Party); Thomas Ward-Brew of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP); Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker, an independent candidate, and Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP). They were disqualified over clerical and administrative errors as well as for forgery and perjury.

Those who qualified include Mr Akufo-Addo, John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ivor Greenstreet of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), and Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate.

The PPP at a press conference last week following the disqualification of its flag bearer Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and 12 other nominees from the presidential race, said: “… The question we are asking is that, why did the EC overlook this offence and pass these candidates without raising any issue? Is this not a matter of selective justice? ...The EC chairperson is a lawyer and must know this. We understand that Nana Akufo-Addo did not comply with this requirement and we cite him for false declaration, but he stands qualified per the EC’s decision as a presidential candidate. This is a clear selective application of the EC’s own laws.”

Mr Dzakpasu, however, stressed that: “I wouldn’t know. … Not this very specific information.”

Earlier, the NPP’s acting General Secretary, Mr John Boadu had responded to the PPP’s claim, saying: “We [NPP] said it openly and we did not do so [asset declaration] because we believed that the law which the EC was requiring candidates to do so had been repealed. So that thing was null and void.”

He added that if the PPP, and for that matter its flag bearer, had been meticulous, “he wouldn’t have gone ahead to declare his assets,” adding: “So, he rather, unfortunately, couldn’t read very well and didn’t understand that that statement that was made there as part of the requirement is a statement that has been repealed already.”

“… Is he Papa Kwesi [Nduom] holding any appointment? Is he a public officer? Or when he was asked on that asset declaration form, what did he write? Or he wrote the date of appointment when Kufuor appointed him? I’m all with them. I will support them if they think that there’s something that has gone amiss and they want to use the law process to correct it. That’s their business but they should not drag us into this needless debate,” Mr Boadu said.