Professor of Corporate Governance and Leadership at the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Professor Albert Puni has called for a change in the way Chairpersons of the Electoral Commission (EC) are appointed in Ghana.
He explained that the current practice where only the President reserves the right to appoint the chairperson of the Commission creates an impression that, the appointed commissioner will be biased in his or her judgment in favor of his or her appointee. An impression he said, reduces public confidence in the body.
“The appointment of this office by the president makes the opposition parties suspicious of the electoral commission’s duty.
“The incumbent is always supportive of the Electoral Commission because they need to protect that institution but the opposition or minority always say that no you are in bed with the Electoral Commission. So it tells us that the parties are always suspicious of the referee.”
Professor Puni’s comments were as a result of the rejection of the 2020 presidential result by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The presidential candidate of the party, John Dramani Mahama said the EC Chair, Jean Mensa, who was appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was incompetent in handling the just-ended presidential and parliamentary elections. He further alleged that, the Commission had rigged the election in favor of the incumbent President.
Candidate Mahama said the figures used by the EC Commissioner in declaring President Akufo-Addo as president-elect did not add up, hence the calls for an audit of the numbers again.
After the announcement of the results by the Chair of the Commission, Mr. Mahama revealed that the party and himself will not accept the results of the polls describing the results as a “fictionalized results of a flawed election.”
Addressing the nation on Thursday, December 11, the presidential candidate of the NDC said “The facts and figures on the pink sheets available to us indicate that numerous steps have been taken to manipulate the elections in favor of the incumbent.
“This calls into question the credibility of one of our most important institutional pillars of democracy, the Electoral Commission.
“It is now obvious to many objective minds that the Commission and its chairperson have been used to manipulate results from the various constituencies and in that process seek to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghana people.”
He added “Since the inception of the Fourth Republic, final election results have always been declared within a 72hour period to allow for thorough and diligence collation.
“Surprisingly, this Electoral Commission chairperson announced quite suspiciously for reasons known to her a hurried 24hour deadline which as we all know, could not and would not be met.
“The Chairperson of the EC in less than 24 hours after her declaration has admitted that she made unacceptable errors which go to the heart of the entire electoral process and cast deep doubt on the credibility of the announced outcome.”
Candidate Mahama and the NDC have since the declaration of the2020 presidential results implore various means to throw the declared results in the face of the EC.
With series of street protests ongoing, the Ashanti Region Women’s wing of the NDC also embarked on a demonstration yesterday in screaming its support for the party and its flagbearer in rejecting the declared result.
