[ 2016-11-14 ]

Martin Amidu wants EC boss impeached
Former Attorney General Martin Amidu has urged
civil society organisations and defenders of the
1992 Constitution to push for the impeachment of
the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Mrs
Charlotte Osei, “immediately” after the 7
December polls.

In a statement copied to ClassFMonline.com, Mr
Amidu said: “It is too late in the month to
advocate in defence of the Constitution for a
reorganisation of the Commission before the
election, or for the impeachment of the
Commissioner. This should be the task immediately
after the 2016 elections – conducted by
responsible members of the media, civil society,
and civil society organisations who love the
Republic of Ghana’s constitutional and
democratic dispensation of free, fair and
transparent political representation for elections
and referenda. We need to put Ghana First and work
tirelessly for change of governance at this
year’s presidential election.”

“Before then, let us watch the rigging agenda of
the Commissioner and her mentors during the
remaining election period,” he urged.

According to him, Mrs Osei “has already
engineered elections in such a way that a good six
weeks have been lost for the campaign period of
the NDP, PPP, and the PNC. Her actions affect the
equal right and facilities for political
campaigning mandatorily enjoined by the
Constitution. Fellow citizens be alert to the
Commissioner’s other tricks. The Commissioner
cannot be trusted to fairly implement her mandate
under the 1992 Constitution without vigilance on
our part. We must defend the Constitution!”

Below is the full article by Mr Martin Amidu:


FELLOW CITIZENS BE ALERT TO THE ELECTORAL
COMMISSIONER’S OTHER TRICKS: BY MARTIN A. B. K.
AMIDU

Constitutional and democratic forces that have
struggled against the abuse of citizens’ rights
when it comes to the free, fair and transparent
choice of a President from candidates presented by
all political parties and independents at this
year’s polls, have had a partial victory. The
Progressive People’s Party (PPP), the National
Democratic Party (NDP) and the People’s National
Convention (PNC) now have their presidential
candidates listed as approved on the presidential
ballot. The forces of democracy have triumphed
over the Returning Officer/Commissioner who
schemed to unconstitutionally impose her arbitrary
will by qualifying only her four preferred
candidates on the presidential ballot.

By sheer impudence, incompetence, and arrogance
the Returning Officer and Commissioner refused to
obey the decisions of the High Court in favour of
some of the candidates. And even when the Supreme
Court finally gave its ruling insisting that all
the 13 disqualified candidates be given the right
to the hearing she had unlawfully denied them, the
Commissioner sabotaged the spirit of the Supreme
Court decision by an alleged discovery of several
new defects and errors on each candidate’s
nomination form. The Commissioner’s agenda was
no doubt to disqualify all 13 candidates again if
she had her way.

However, the activism of the media, civil society,
constitutional, and other political activists have
compelled the Commissioner to see the
foolhardiness of the path she was treading. Had
those standing up against her failed, I have no
doubt that if she had disqualified all 13
candidates again, the stability of our democracy
would have been seriously endangered and impaired.
To save face, the Commissioner consequently chose
the line of least resistance by approving the
nominations of the three strongest, more
established, and most viable political party
candidates - PNC, PPP, and NDP.

I have said that the Commissioner’s choice of
the two major political parties, the NPP and the
NDC with a sprinkle of the CPP and an independent
candidate at the beginning was done in pursuance
of a rigging agenda with her mentors. However, it
was the enormous hurricane of pressure from civil
society, civil society organizations, and the
media that resulted in the addition to the ballot
of three of the most active candidates out of the
13 originally disqualified candidates.

Yet even this selection process like the first one
still lacked transparency and I dare say it
appears arbitrary. This time around the Commission
did not publish any statement to give the public
reasons why the other eight candidates did not
make it to the ballot. As a result, the public is
unable to make an informed opinion of her fairness
and transparency in the matter. That Dr. Papa
Kwesi Nduom would have gone back to the Supreme
Court for interpretation if his amended nomination
based on the grounds upon which the High Court
asked that he be given a hearing, was too obvious
to cow the Commissioner into cautious approval. I
believe that Her Excellency Nana Konadu
Agyeman-Rawling’s nomination was the main target
of the Commissioner’s mentors. But the Nduom
case was on all fours with Her Excellency Nana
Konadu Agyeman-Rawling’s case, making it a
challenge for the Commissioner to undertake a
gamble with her alleged additional new errors. Dr.
Edward Mahama’s party is known to be one of the
oldest under the Constitution, active and capable
of bloody nose activism and it was in the process
of securing a ruling on 10th November 2016. Hassan
Ayariga’s party just got registered this year
and he dared to threaten to reorganize the
Electoral Commission should he win the Presidency.
He should have known better and kept quiet: he
should have learned hard lessons from Dr.
Nduom’s earlier challenge of the almighty
arbitrary Commissioner.

In pursuing her arbitrary, unfair and lack of
transparent approval process, the Commissioner
knew that once she met the timetable laid down by
the Supreme Court ruling of 7th November 2016 and
of the balloting for the presidential polls on
10th November 2016, the eight disqualified
candidates would have no hearing at the Supreme
Court for interpretation, nor would they have the
ability to mount a new action in any other court.
POWER!

It is a pity that political parties properly
registered under the Constitution cannot present
candidates in this year’s presidential ballot as
was the intention of the framers of the
Constitution, just because the Commissioner, in
pursuit of her rigging agenda on behalf of her
mentors, will not engage in alternative dispute
resolution. But the eyes of every citizen have
been opened to the arbitrary conduct and impunity
exhibited by the Commissioner. And now
particularly the political parties are fully aware
as to how the power of the Commissioner can be
wantonly abused.

It is too late in the month to advocate in defence
of the Constitution for a reorganization of the
Commission before the election, or for the
impeachment of the Commissioner. This should be
the task immediately after the 2016 elections –
conducted by responsible members of the media,
civil society, and civil society organizations who
love the Republic of Ghana’s constitutional and
democratic dispensation of free, fair and
transparent political representation for elections
and referenda. We need to put Ghana First and work
tirelessly for change of governance at this
year’s presidential election.

Before then, let us watch the rigging agenda of
the Commissioner and her mentors during the
remaining election period. She has already
engineered elections in such a way that a good six
weeks have been lost for the campaign period of
the NDP, PPP, and the PNC. Her actions affect the
equal right and facilities for political
campaigning mandatorily enjoined by the
Constitution. Fellow citizens be alert to the
Commissioner’s other tricks. The Commissioner
cannot be trusted to fairly implement her mandate
under the 1992 Constitution without vigilance on
our part. We must defend the Constitution!


11th November 2016

Source - Martin A. B. K. Amidu

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