Prof. Kwaku Asare who has been very critical of the EC for some of its decisions, which has grabbed headlines in the last months, including the disqualification of the13 presidential nominees, wants the seven members Commission dissolved immediately after the December 7 general elections.
In a Facebook post Monday, Prof. Kwaku Asare said he has lost confidence in the Electoral Commissions, a sentiment shared by many Ghanaians.
He has thus asked all stakeholders and the people of Ghana to be vigilant and work hard towards credible polls on December 7 despite the assurances by the Commission to conduct credible and ‘world-class elections’ this year.
“I am sorry to say this but I have no confidence in the Electoral Commission. The first step is for all stakeholders to be vigilant and work tirelessly for a credible election in December. The second step is to fire the EC’s lawyers,” he demanded.
“The third step, after the general elections, is to dissolve the Commission,” Prof. Kwaku Asare said, added and called for an amendment of the constitution “to require a super majority parliamentary vote before being put on the Commission”.
His appeal comes on the back of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that ordered the EC to give the disqualified presidential nominees the opportunity to rectify anomalies on their nomination forms.
The Supreme Court’s ruling followed an order of certiorari filed by the EC to quash an earlier High Court ruling that ordered the Commission to give presidential nominee for the Progressive People’s Party, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the chance to correct mistakes in his nomination forms.
The Supreme Court dismissed the EC’s application in part, and gave consequential orders to the Commission to give the disqualified nominees whose forms had errors, the opportunity to rectify and submit same by close of day today, Wednesday November 8.
But some of the parties are claiming the EC in a latest letter to them Monday evening, introduced ‘fresh mistakes’ from what the Commission initially based on to disqualify their presidential nominees; something they say is a grand scheme by the Commission to get them out of the electoral race.
The latest development has further attracted criticism against the EC as doing the bidding of someone, with some lawyers fearing it could trigger further suit against the Commission, something that could have consequences on the elections that is less than a month away.
A senior law lecturer at the University of Ghana Law Faculty, Dr Poku Adusei, in a Facebook post described the latest EC’s posture as “Vindictiveness” in the implementation of the SC decision.
He had earlier after the Supreme Court ruling posted: “I don’t know why [the] EC thought any remedy in the Supreme Court would have helped it. Nothing. Now go and implement the SC decision with your ‘erected’/stiffened hand and it will be broken further by lawyers”.
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