The Electoral Commission (EC) appears to have lost every iota of independence under President Nana Akufo-Addo, as his office has been mentioned in an internal memo to have demanded the Curricula Vitae (CV) of Senior Management of State Agencies, including the EC from director and above.
The reason behind the President’s demand from the EC officials is not yet clear, but Samuel D. Boadu, the Director of Human Resources at the Commission in the internal communication issued to the Head Office and Regional Directors, suggested it was urgent as the CVs were to be submitted within hours.
The President’s demand has sparked rage, with at least from Ranford Gyampo, a Political Science professor at University of Ghana taking to his Facebook page with a photograph of the memo hitting hard at President Akufo-Addo.
Referring to the President, Prof. Gyampo, questioned “why do you want to do this to an Independent Commission? It appears under your tenure, you are doing everything you can to decimate the independence of all independent institutions, but to what end?
“The history of Ghana’s Fourth Republic shows that you are currently the worst President in promoting the sanctity of the independence of the Electoral Commission”, he wrote on Tuesday evening on top of the three-paragraph memo dated May 29, 2023 with its subject as “Submission of curricula vitae”.
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It said “I bring you greetings from the Corporate Head Office of the Commission”.
“This comes to inform you that the Office of the President His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has requested for the Curricula Vitae of Senior Management of State Agencies from the Director and above.
“You are therefore requested to submit your CV by noon today, 29th May, 2023 through [email protected] for the attention of the Commission”.
Interestingly, the same President, in 2018 had used the Supreme Court under Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo to remove the then EC chairperson, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies; Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa from office with immediate effect in pursuant to Article 146(1) of the Constitution.
A committee set up by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, pursuant to Article 146(4) of the Constitution, to investigate separate complaints brought against the three persons by Ghanaian citizens, recommended their removal from office.
The Committee recommended their removal on the basis of stated misbehavior, corruption, and incompetence, pursuant to Article 146(1) of the Constitution.
Some concerned workers of the Electoral Commission in July 2017 petitioned the President and the Chief Justice to begin impeachment processes against the Chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei.
They accused Mrs Osei of taking unilateral decisions without recourse to the appropriate departments of the EC, even her deputies.
They were replaced by Jean Mensah, then of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Bossman Asare of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana. The memo appears, therefore, to suggest the President is up to something sinister again.
It is yet to be verified if indeed, a similar memo has been sent out to other state agencies demanding directors and others there to submit their CVs to the Office of the President.
Below is what Prof. Gyampo wrote:
Dear President Akufo Addo,
Why do you want to do this to an Independent Commission? It appears under your tenure, you are doing everything you can to decimate the independence of all independent institutions, but to what end?
The history of Ghana’s Fourth Republic show that you are currently the worse President in promoting the sanctity of the independence of the Electoral Commission.
Unfortunately, there aren’t courageous people around you to tell you to back off your attempts at annexing the Electoral Commission. Back in the days, Dan Botwe as General Secretary of the NPP could boldly tell President Kufuor in the face to back off his attempt to usurp the procurement powers of the Electoral Commission and the President had no choice than to listen.
Please leave office and leave the sanctity of our independent institutions intact. This is not a practice worth emulating or repeating, Sir. This demand is unnecessary and it’s optics for the quest to deal with the independence deficit of the Electoral Commission are bad.
But the Electoral Commission too must not be seen to be swallowing everything thrown to them by the President hook, line and sinker. As an independent Commission, it is backed by law to resist every attempt at subjugating the Commission under the Executive President.
