Member of Parliament (MP) for the Effutu Constituency in the Central Region, Alex Afenyo-Markin has described a contempt case brought against the Electoral Commission (EC) by the Progressive People's Party (PPP) as frivolous.
The Progressive People’s Party on Monday cited the EC for contempt after the Commission held onto the party’s filing fee last week despite a pending application for an injunction against the receipt of its proposed filing fees.
The PPP on Wednesday, September 28, 2016, secured  an interlocutory injunction writ from the High Court seeking to restrain the EC “from collecting and or receiving a deposit of GHC50,000 and GHC10,000 from each presidential candidate and each parliamentary candidate as announced†by the EC on September 8, 2016.
But the PPP, while submitting the nomination forms for its presidential nominee, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom on Friday, 30 September, attached a banker’s draft of GHS50,000 to the forms, which the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei accepted saying the EC collected the PPP's fee because they assumed that by bringing the money along with their nomination, the PPP had withdrawn the court case.Â
But according to Mr Afenyo-Markin, the conduct of both parties on the matter left much to be desired.
Speaking on GTV's Breakfast Show on Wednesday, he stated that the Madam Osei's receipt of the draft and her refusal to return it when her attention was drawn to it was petty.
"We are going into a serious election and the EC Chair cannot be working with this pettiness and this much emotion. She cannot be behaving like this".
On the PPP, he said the fact that they had sent the draft when their arguements in the earlier suit included the fact that they could not pay filing fee because it was expensive meant they had acquiesced to the EC's directive and therefore had no case.Â
"Their contempt case is frivolous, with all due respect to the lawyers involved", he stated.
Â
Â