Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, the Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, has said he personally defended the appointment of Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan as Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) when people kicked against it due to his affiliations with the then ruling party.
Mr. Appiah-Kubi was speaking about the appointment of one Dr. Peter Appiahene to the Electoral Commission despite concerns of his close affiliations with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He says the appointment of Dr. Afari-Gyan was opposed by people at the time, where the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) even planned a protest against his appointment.
But according to him, he had to defend Dr. Afari Gyan at the time, the same reason Dr. Appiahene, although he claims he doesn’t know him personally, if he is an NPP, should not be opposed only if he will do his work diligently.
President Akufo-Addo in March 2024 swore in three new members of the electoral management body including Dr Appiahene. But due to his affiliation with the NPP for serving as a founding patron of TESCON UENR and Director of IT for the NPP in the Bono Region among several positions, some groups and individuals kicked against his appointment.
Three civil society organisations comprising the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), the Star-Ghana Foundation and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) held a news conference urging Dr Appiahene to resign.
The CSOs maintained this appointment was unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etsi Kwami Dafeamekpor, dragged him to the Supreme Court. The South Dayi MP was asking the Apex Court to revoke the appointment due to the man’s affiliation to the NPP.
But speaking about the composition of the Commission on TV3’s KeyPoints Saturday, September 21, 2024, the Asante Akyem North MP indicated that if the affiliations of people were anything to go by, the former Chair of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, would have been voided.
According to him, when the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) at the time rose to demonstrate against his appointment, he personally defended him, despite knowing where his sympathies lied at the time.
“When I was in Legon in 1992 and Dr. Afari-Gyan was being appointed, NUGS at the time even opposed and we were at the verge of going on demonstration and I was there. Don’t forget that Dr. Afari-Gyan was my lecturer so I knew him and a lot of us at Legon knew him and we were complaining about that.
“Nevertheless, when we assembled and were about going out to demonstrate, I personally rose up and told them that he is a Ghanaian and the fact that he has sympathy for a party doesn’t disqualify him from occupying such position.
“And I remember supporting my argument then with the case of Sallah vs Attorney General that said that Ghana is a closed-community and therefore if we begin to tag people with associations like that, we won’t get anybody into public office,” adding that such persons must be allowed but only to be monitored to ensure they don’t compromise their offices with their affiliations.
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