Famend governance knowledgeable Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah has advised that the constitutional energy given to the president to nominate an Electoral Fee chair needs to be amended.
The Heart for Democratic Improvement (CDD-Ghana) fellow opined that the authoritative appointment energy needs to be given to a different autonomous physique outdoors the manager arm of presidency. This, he mentioned will encourage confidence within the electoral course of.
Prof Agyeman-Duah made these submissions whereas sharing his perception on the suspicious removing of the previous EC Chair, Charlotte Osei from workplace regardless of her excellent efficiency.
“The way in which the previous Chair Charlotte Osei was eliminated was unusual, only one particular person submitted a petition, and that one particular person’s petition was conveyed to the Supreme Court docket. This offers room for others to return and do the identical. I feel there should be a greater manner of dealing with a petition to take away the EC chair,” he mentioned.
“Choosing the EC Chair independently of the manager will go an extended to assist. The appointing authority is a matter right here, the president appoints however in lots of nations, the EC chairs are appointed outdoors the manager authority”.
It is going to be recalled that Mrs Osei and two of her deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa, had been on Thursday, June 28, 2018, faraway from workplace as Commissioners of the Electoral Fee (EC) by Nana Akufo-Addo on grounds of “misbehaviour and incompetence”.
Their removing was on the again of suggestions from a committee arrange by the Chief Justice to analyze the three allegations introduced in opposition to them by some employees of the Fee in July 2017.
Some Ghanaians and a few members of the Nationwide Democratic Congress have accused the Akufo-Addo-led authorities of hiding behind a petition to take away particularly Mrs Osei who was appointed by John Mahama three years in the past. They grounded their declare on some utterances by key members of the New Patriotic authorities previous to their coming into workplace to the impact that they had been going to make sure the removing of Mrs. Osei.
However President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo justified the removing of Mrs. Charlotte Osei and her two deputies from workplace, indicating that although the choice was a painful one, he had no selection however to behave the way he did.