GBA charges Prez. Mahama to appoint new EC Chairman
- Posted on
- Comment
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) wants President John Mahama to initiate the process to select the successor to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan.
The GBA in its demands is also asking that the appointment of a new chairman should enhance the credibility of the Commission.
They are also demanding that the new EC boss should be “just and of high integrity.”
These demands were contained in a resolution of the association’s annual conference held in Cape Coast, in the Central Region.
The current EC chairman, Dr. Afari Gyan is due for retirement in 2015, after serving in that position since the Commission was set up in 1992.
Prior to his retirement, a number of suggestions on how the next EC chair should be appointed, the tenure of the appointment and who to appoint have come up for discussion.
The former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye has suggested that the appointment of an EC chairman by the President is a dangerous practice which must be scrapped.
He suggested a majority approval of the EC chairman to uphold the independence of the Electoral Commission.
But government has not made any official statement on the matter yet.
The GBA President, Nene Amegatcher at a press briefing on Tuesday said they are making the demands because the conduct of elections is the single most important threat to Ghana’s peace.
He noted that the outcome of the 2012 general elections which led to months of litigation at the Supreme Court tainted the image of the EC, therefore, it is imperative for President John Mahama to restore the Commission’s credibility.
According to him, Ghanaians expect that the new EC chair will be “capable and just, a person of integrity, one who will not pander to political pressures from any quarters whatsoever.”
The GBA is also asking the EC and relevant stakeholders to start implementing the recommendations given by the Judges who sat on the election petition.
-By: Efua Idan Osam
ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
[email protected] An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
View all posts by: Nana Kwesi CoomsonRECOMMENDED STORIES
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)