You also appointed Charlotte Osei who people tagged NDC – EC Jabs Mahama over bias accusations
The Electoral Commission (EC) has launched a blistering attack on former President John Dramani Mahama for persistently denigrating the commission without any justification.
In a strongly worded press release issued on April 25, the EC noted that, unlike other political leaders, Mr Mahama has made it a ritual to demonize the commission at the least opportunity.
The press release was in response to a recent interview the former President granted at the London School of Economics and Political Science in which he accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of appointing its members to the EC.
He also raised concerns about the EC’s impartiality in the upcoming elections claiming that the election management body had requested MPs and DCEs to disclose the names of NPP members during the recruitment of Returning Officers and their deputies.
Baseless accusations
But, the EC, in its press release signed by the Deputy Director of Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation, Fred Tetteh, vehemently dismissed the assertions by Mr Mahama, and turned the fire on him for his baseless accusations.
Constitutional provision
Making reference to Article 43(2) of the Constitution , which provides that, “ The members of the commission shall be appointed by the President under article 70 of this Constitution”, the EC said, “Former President Mahama during his presidency, exercised his authority under this same provision of the Constitution to make an appointment to the Commission.
“There were Ghanaians who questioned the neutrality of the person he appointed. There were also Ghanaians who equally accused President Mahama at the time of appointing a person with NDC sympathies to the Commission.”
No difference
The EC continued: “What was the difference then is that other Ghanaian political leaders did not use every opportunity they got to demonize and denigrate the Electoral Commission as a result of their reservations about President Mahama’s appointment to the commission. He, on the other hand, has never missed an opportunity to denigrate this commission.”
Read full statement
