A Coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) led by the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), has renewed their appeals to the two new members of the Electoral Commission (EC), who have partisan affiliations to resign.
Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani and Dr Peter Appiahene were alleged to be known sympathisers of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the time of their appointment in March 2023.
According to the Coalition of CSOs, the appointment of people with partisan affiliations to the electoral management body was dangerous for the country’s democracy.
The Coalition, which consists of CODEO, the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), STAR Ghana Foundation, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) made the appeal in Accra during a roundtable discussion on CSOs’ Assessment of Election-related activities in 2023 and their implications for Ghana’s 2024 general election.
The roundtable, which was organized by CODEO and the CSOs’ Elections Platform, with support from the STAR-Ghana Foundation was aimed at interrogating key electoral issues in Ghana and happenings in recent elections on the African continent that could affect the integrity and credibility of Ghana’s 2024 general election.
The roundtable sought to provide a platform for experience-sharing on best practices for managing free, fair, transparent, and credible elections.
Dr Kojo Asante, the Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at CDD-Ghana, in his presentation reiterated the significance of the resignation of the duo to safeguard the neutrality of Ghana’s democracy.
He recalled that on March 21st, 2023, the President swore in three persons as new members of the EC and that on April 5th, 2023, CSOs raised concerns about the partisan’s affiliation of two of the appointees and its effect on public perception of the EC’s independence and neutrality.
He noted that in April, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) also petitioned the Council of State about two of the new appointees.
He said in August, Council of State responded that to the NDC’s petition that the
appointment followed procedure and that it was out of their hands.
Dr Asante underscored that as it stands the concerns raised remained unaddressed.
He urged the Government to find other places where the duo could serve the nation; saying “It is not about their competency and capacity. I am sure there are other places where they can serve fully without all those implications that we have for our elections”.
