Two political parties being investigated by anti-graft agency, EOCO, over campaign financing have launched an attack on the organisation, calling the probe a political witch-hunt.

Disqualified presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress, Hasan Ayariga is questioning why EOCO singled out his party and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) for the probe.

He finds it baffling that out of all the political parties, EOCO seems interested only in the APC and PPP.

EOCO issued a letter to the presidential candidate of the PPP, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom asking him to explain the source of the over GHc1.7 million Cedis he used to pay filing fees at the Electoral Commission for himself and his party's parliamentary candidates.

In the case of Mr Ayariga, EOCO is demanding answers on his source of funding after he claimed on an Accra-based radio station that he expended over $6 million to procure vehicles for his campaign.

In a statement, EOCO stated “The office has analysed your statements and comments made to the media and circulated on social media. In one such statement, you are heard to say that you expended over $6 million to procure vehicles, among others. The statement is of great interest to the office”.

The letter further asked Mr Ayariga to confirm, in writing, the sources of the total amount he had spent, including the amount of $6 million he was on record to have exhausted.

Hassan Ayariga

Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show ‘Dwaso Nsem’ Mr Ayariga said although he is prepared to respond to the letter, “My problem is that why will EOCO write to only APC and PPP. There are so many other political parties in this country that have spent more than the APC and the PPP.

“So why the APC and the PPP alone. Is it that EOCO is interested in APC and PPP alone and they are not interested in NDC, NPP and the many other parties,” he queried.

Mr Ayariga believes that for EOCO to single out only the APC and PPP, then it has an agenda. “Is it because these two political parties are progressing,” he asked.

He is also of the view that it was unfair for EOCO to leak the letter to the media when he only received the letter on Saturday.

“On Saturday when I came home the letter was there so how come early morning when I am supposed to respond to them, the whole world knows about it. And they call themselves EOCO. With due respect to their institution, they should learn how to follow procedures.

“If you want to investigate people, do the right thing. Investigate all the political parties, why do you [narrow] it to two. I think that our laws should work without fear or favour and must be applied to everybody squarely.”

The PPP is also not impressed by EOCO’s letter. The party’s policy advisor Kofi Asamoah Siaw told Joy News’ Francis Abban in an interview that they will not be cowed by the institution.

Kofi Asamoah Siaw

He described the letter as “The greatest joke of the century,” asking how is EOCO investigating a political party when the Auditor General in its report indicted the institution over its failure to account for some È»89,000.

“How on earth can they have the capacity to investigate the source of È»1.7 million? he queried.

Asamaoh Siaw however believes that EOCO is being spurred on by the governing NDC to frustrate the PPP's election bid.

He said the PPP has nothing to hide and if EOCO indeed wants to investigate anyone, it should not be his party.

“When Dr Nduom and the PPP have done their campaign in such a way that Ghanaians will vote for us and disturb the vote that will go to the NDC and some other parties, they are deploying state institutions including EOCO as a political tool to harass us.

“President Mahama knows about this, otherwise the president should call this state institution to order. You don’t invite people to the CID by radio announcement. You don’t write letters to political parties to respond to and leak it to the media before we get it,” he said.

He said the PPP will not keep quiet, it is prepared to fight and is not scared of any institution, including the Bereau of National Investigation (BNI).

In his view, “all this calculated, orchestrated attempt to harass our efforts to get back to the ballot paper is sponsored by the ruling government and they know it and if they have nothing against it, they should say so.

“NDC pays 2.8 million for president Mahama and its parliamentary candidates we paid È»1.7 million, if you’re looking for a bigger amount to look into, why not the NDC but the PPP one, where did they get their money from,” he questioned.