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The founder of the newly certified All People’s Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga, has insisted his party is duly registered despite the certificate bearing the new controversial logo of the Electoral Commission.
Although the EC says the new logo which sparked hue and cry in the last few weeks is yet to be approved, a certificate of operation issued by the Commission to APC on April 22 bore the new logo.
Consequently concerns are being raised about the legitimacy of the certificate but Mr Ayariga says he’s unfazed as to him they have satisfied all the constitutional requirements as a political party.
“As far as APC is concerned, I have satisfied constitutional and the EC requirements and can contest the 2016 elections,” he said on Onua FM Friday.
The EC was hit with a backlash over its decision to replace the old logo of the Commission with a new one that has a close resemblance to that of a foreign educational institution in Turkey.
Mr. Amadu Sulley, Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Operations, is reported to have said the Commission has not reached a conclusive decision on whether or not to change its logo.
“The EC has not formally approved it to be used as its substantive logo” he was quoted to have said.
Contrary to the statement, the logo is being used by the Commission for official purposes as was evidenced by some informational brochures on the “revision of the voters register-2016” it produced.
But Mr Ayariga told Onua FM that until a court provides a judgment that the EC certificate issued him is not valid, “I will keep on campaigning and operate as a duly registered political party.
“We are choosing to focus on putting structures in place to win the 2016 elections rather than focus on the controversy surrounding the EC’s logo,” he said.
He claimed the “APC is the only party qualified to contest the 2016 elections because other parties have not satisfied the EC’S requirement; not even the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party have.”
“The certificate is now history, however, the most important thing is to organize the constituency and regional elections and then national congress to elect a flag-bearer.”
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai, says the issue of the legitimacy of the APC certificate does not arise, arguing that once it has a genuine signature it is valid.
He explained that the Evidence Act (Act 323) requires that all correspondence from government agencies must have certain basic identity features such as an authentic signature.
“Therefore, the APC should not worry whether the logo matches the EC’s logo once its certificate carries a genuine signature.”
He said by using the logo in various communication materials, the EC has inevitably changed and approved the new logo as its logo, noting the EC does not need public approval to change its logo as it is an independent institution established by the constitution.
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to double check any information bearing any of the EC’s logos in other to prevent falling prey to fraudsters.
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