The Member of Parliament for the Buem constituency and the former National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Adams has slammed president Nana Akufo-Addo for appointing a known member of the NPP onto the board of the Electoral Commission.
President Akufo-Addo in line with Article 43 (1 and 2) of the 1992 Constitution swore in three new members of the Electoral Commission (EC) governing board on Monday, March 20.
The three included Rev. Akua Ofori Boateng Salima, Ahmed Tijani, and Dr. Peter Appiahene.
But according to Mr. Adams, president Akufo-Addo is the only president in the history of Ghana to denigrate the office of the Electoral Commission by appointing known party apparatchiks to the office.
He claimed Dr. Peter Appiahene is an NPP activist who was a patron of the Tertiary Education Student Confederacy Network (TESCON) – a university wing of the NPP.
He said while previous presidents worked to protect and ensure the sanctity of the office, Akufo-Addo has politicized it and flooded its corridors with NPP faithful.
“All the other former presidents have worked to ensure the sanctity of the Electoral Commission, but that is far from President Akufo-Addo. Never has the Electoral Commission been tainted through a partisan lens than has happened in this current administration. Right from the processes leading to the removal of Charlotte Osei and her colleagues through to the appointment of Jean Mensa and others and the additions made today.”
Mr. Adams further took a swipe at the New Patriotic Party government accusing it of destroying the independence of the Electoral Commission.
“The president and by extension, his government and his party have worked to destroy this independent institution that has been so much respected by all other former presidents we have had in this country. It is as though the president is not satisfied with the number of party apparatchiks at the presidency and wants to extend it to institutions that were so established by the constitution.”
