The President has been asked by the Centre for Democracy and Socio-Economic Development (CDS) to refrain from taking any action to remove the chairwoman of the EC and other commissioners.
Daniel Ofosu-Appiah and a group called the Positive Transparency and Accountability Movement Ghana filed two petitions calling for the dismissal of Jean Mensa, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, along with her two deputies, Drs. Bossman Asare and Samuel Tettey, and another Commission member, Dr. Peter Atuahene.
The Center for Democracy and Socio-Economic Development is requesting in what seems to be a counterpetition that President John Mahama deny the two petitions for the sake of Ghana’s democracy.
The civil society group calls on the president to avoid a recurrence of the events that led to the removal of the EC Chairperson and her deputies from office in 2017.
This was considered politically motivated, according to the CDS, and any plans to remove the EC chairpersons will be seen with the same fervor.
Today, those calling for the removal of Jean Mensa and her team are drawing inspiration from that unfortunate precedent. If this cycle is allowed to continue, it will erode the foundations of Ghana’s Fourth Republic and threaten the independence of the Electoral Commission beyond repair.’ The petition reads,”
The group also based its appeal on the president’s obligation to protect Ghana’s democratic institutions’ autonomy.
“Your Excellency, the fundamental principle that Electoral Commissions should be independent of political influence should outweigh all other considerations. If this administration dissolves the current Commission, future governments will feel emboldened to do the same, creating a dangerous cycle of political interference that could ultimately undermine Ghana’s hard-earned democratic stability.’
CDS contends that by complying with their request, the President will stop the Electoral Commission’s reputation from deteriorating.
“Your Excellency, the fundamental principle that electoral commissions should be independent of political influence should outweigh all other considerations. If this administration dissolves the current Commission, future governments will feel emboldened to do the same, creating a dangerous cycle of political interference that could ultimately undermine Ghana’s hard-earned democratic stability.”
Plans to disband the Commission, according to the Centre for Democracy and Socio-Economic Development, would set a precedent that would make the Commission a tool of the ruling administrations, which could be altered with each new administration.
To protect the Electoral Commission’s independence and prevent creating a precedent that would enable future governments to dissolve the EC at any time, the center is advising the President to reject the petitions calling for the dismissal of the EC commissioner and chairpersons.
Source: newsthemegh.com