Court dismisses PPP over filing fees
The high court in Accra yesterday dismissed a suit filed by the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) challenging the filing fees set by the Electoral Commission (EC) for the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections.
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The PPP filed the suit in September 2016 and prayed the court to declare that Regulation 45 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 94), which provides guidelines for the deposit of filing fees, was discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.
It also prayed the court to declare that C.I. 94 did not contain the appropriate relevant provisions consistent with the intent of Article 296 of the 1992 Constitution.
But, in dismissing the suit, the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Jennifer Tagoe, held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the constitutional matters raised by the applicant.
It said it was only the Supreme Court that had jurisdiction to declare whether or not the stated regulations under C.I. 94 were constitutional.
The court proceeded to award costs of GH¢10,000 against the applicant in favour of the respondent.
Background
The EC, on September 8, 2016, announced filing fees of GH¢50,000 and GH¢10,000 for presidential and parliamentary candidates, respectively, but the PPP described the fees as “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable”.
According to the party, although the EC, per PNDC laws 284 and 285, had the discretionary powers to charge filing fees for presidential and parliamentary elections, the electoral body needed a statutory instrument, not a C.I., to exercise those discretionary powers.
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The party, therefore, prayed the High Court to stop the EC from collecting the fees until the appropriate statutory instruments had been passed in accordance with the appropriate legal regime.