Amid allegations of her association with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has requested President John Dramani Mahama to urge Electoral Commission (EC) Deputy Chairperson Emelia Afi Agbenyo to step down.
Paul Aborampah Mensah, Programs Manager at CDD-Ghana, made the call, contending that allowing worries about political connections to persist may erode public trust in the country’s electoral management system.
Mr. Mensah said in an interview with Eyewitness News on Friday, October 16, “What we are now requesting is that the President might not have been aware of the impact of his appointment. Now that it has been openly realized, he can either advise the woman to quit or the woman can quit on her own initiative on moral grounds.”
He emphasized the necessity of upholding the independence of government organizations and cautioned against a circumstance in which modifications in government regularly affect the management and operations of crucial national organizations.
We don’t want a circumstance in which our institutions are impacted every time the government changes. He stated that we must avoid that as a country.
Mr. Mensah cautioned that the continued politicization of election administration could have disastrous implications for Ghana’s democratic procedures.
“If we continue that way and aren’t cautious, it will come to a point where we’ll lament the type of individuals who have been overseeing our elections,” he said.
The concerns arise after President Mahama swore in Mrs. Agbenyo and Dr. Joseph Kweku Asamoah as Deputy Chairpersons of the Electoral Commission on October 12.
Since then, critics have questioned Mrs. Agbenyo’s purported relationship with the NDC, saying it creates questions regarding the constitutional need for the Commission to operate impartially.
President Mahama, however, pleaded with the newly chosen deputy chairpersons to uphold impartiality and defend Ghanaians’ right to freely elect their leaders during the oath-taking ceremony.
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