A political scientist at the University of Ghana (UG) has cast doubts on CSOs and other political activists’ demand for the resignation of the two new board members of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Prof Ransford Gyampo said the culture of resignation is not ingrained in the psyche of Ghanaians.
According to the Professor, the ordinary Ghanaian will always want to hold on to positions as long as possible.
“If you call for the resignation of a typical Ghanaian public servant, you will merely be romancing a spoon because the culture of resignation is not ingrained in our psyche unless one is pushed to resign,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Citi News.
He also stated that some stakeholders are concerned about interference in institutions that are supposed to function as independent bodies.
“People will look at the legitimacy and independence of the commission with some trepidation and when that happens, they are pushed with aggression and defence at all times and see everything that the commission does as wrong even when the Commission means well.
We cannot allow this to go on in perpetuity. The EC itself requires institutional peace to be able to carry out its activities else election management will suffer.”
Already, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has demanded the immediate resignation of Dr. Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani as members of the EC.
The two who were recently appointed by President Akufo-Addo to the electoral management body have been described by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as known affiliates of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
CODEO at a news conference on Wednesday said these appointments have the tendency to make the EC look partisan and affect its credibility in future elections.
Reading the address on behalf of CODEO, Rev. Dr. Fred Deegbe suggested that the two newly appointed EC members to resign voluntarily.
“We are painfully aware that voluntary and constitutionally grounded revocation of this unfortunate and democratically problematic EC appointment by the President is extremely unlikely.
“However nothing stops the affected appointees namely Dr. Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani from voluntarily and honourably resigning from membership of the EC,” he said.
The duo’s resignation, in his view, will “be in the supreme interest of our country’s continual democratic progress, election peace and credibility and indeed, the overall national interest.”