New Patriotic Party, Convention Peoples Party and the Progressive Peoples Party have all denied paying money to the Electoral Commission besides what political parties are expected to pay for services rendered for them.
Deputy Chairperson for Operations at the commission Amadu Sulley has been accused by his boss, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, of collecting Six Million Ghana Cedis in cash from political parties to conduct electoral exercises.
In a detailed response to claims by unidentified petitioners seeking her removal as head of the commission, Mrs. Osei said allegations against her are “baseless.†She said the money was collected “without recourse to the structures of the commission, and without the involvement of the finance department of the commission.â€
She also said Mr. Sulley treated political party primaries as a “private commercial project,†with funds paid directly into the personal accounts of key staff for functions to be performed for party primaries.
Mrs. Osei also denied allegations she “antagonized†the then opposition NPP and refused meeting with any of the leadership to resolve concerns they had. She said several meetings with the party were held to discuss issues they had concerns with.
“The leadership of the NPP is in a position to confirm several meetings held with Mrs. Osei to discuss their concerns. Indeed, in one of those meetings with the two deputy chairpersons, it was discovered that the Deputy Chair Ops had unilaterally and without the knowledge of the Chairperson or the Commission created over 1000 (one thousand) additional polling stations for the district level elections of September 1, 2015.â€
The revelation means parties colluded with the EC for the fraud to be effected, but in a sharp response, representatives of the three parties denied paying monies to officials of the EC outside what they were expected to pay. Director of Elections at the NPP Martin Adjei Korsah, who sent a text message into Peace FM’s  breakfast show, “Kokrokoo† said the party never paid any money to an official of the commission for such an exercise to be carried out.
Former Youth Organiser of the CPP James Kwabena Bomfeh and the PPP representative Nana Ofori has denied paying any money to any person at the commission, apart from what was expected from the parties.
In a related development, Dr. Kojo Asante of the Centre for Democratic Development says the allegations being made by the EC Chair and staff against each other should be thoroughly investigated. According to him, it will be unfortunate if an arbitration is held among the leadership and they asked to resume work as if nothing has happened. That, he explained, will not augur well for the image of the commission, considering the gravity of allegations thrown at each other.
He said the anti-graft agency EOCO should be given the needed powers to get to the bottom of the allegations.