Former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor, has stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has harmed the integrity of the Electoral Commission (EC) by appointing politically exposed individuals to the Commission.
At a forum commemorating the 60th anniversary of the political science department at the University of Ghana, he stated that President Akufo-Addo disregarded instructions regarding the appointment.
He stated, "The integrity of our elections is deteriorating over time, as it is evident that when the integrity of the election administrators in terms of being impartial and independent is questioned, the integrity of the entire electoral process is compromised.
"Recently, we have had cause to complain about the method of commission appointment. We are discussing even the permanent personnel whose officers are appointed by the executive branch.
"You have a situation in which the designating authority tosses caution to the wind and appoints partisan political activists to the Electoral Commission. Integrity is one of the most essential components that an elections management body must possess, but you have severely compromised it.
Meanwhile, South Dayi Member of Parliament Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor has filed a lawsuit against newly appointed Commission member Dr. Peter Appiahene.
He believes that Dr. Appiahene is a politically-involved individual, but an individual is ineligible to be an EC member if they are "known sympathisers, members, or openly affiliated with a registered political party in Ghana."
Dafeamekpor is requesting that the appointment be revoked by the Supreme Court.
"An order revoking the appointment of the First Defendant as a member of the Second Defendant Commission by the President of the Republic of Ghana.
"An order of interlocutory injunction prohibiting the Is Defendant from acting or representing himself as a member of the 2nd Defendant Commission pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
"An order of permanent injunction prohibiting the first defendant from acting or representing himself as a member of the second defendant's commission."
Former President John Dramani Mahama, for instance, stated that Dr. Peter Appiahene, Madam Salima Ahmed Tijani, and Reverend Akua Ofori Boateng are members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He accused the President of installing members of his party at the EC to manipulate the 2024 general elections in favor of the NPP.
As part of his campaign to be elected NDC flagbearer for the 2024 elections, he told NDC supporters, "we want the 2024 general elections to be free and fair, we in NDC won't manipulate it and we won't allow anyone else to rig it.
We require "competent executives" to win in 2020 –Mahama argues.
By God's grace, the NDC will prevail if the elections are free and fair.
He added, "The NPP is afraid, and as a result, they are placing party members on the Electoral Commission." If you look at the most recent appointments to the EC, they are all NPP members."