[ 2016-11-14 ]

Electoral Commissioner cannot be trusted – Martin Amidu
The eyes of every citizen have been opened to the
arbitrary conduct and impunity exhibited by the
Electoral Commissioner, and the political parties
are now fully aware as to how the power of the
Commissioner can be wantonly abused, Mr Martin
Amidu, former Attorney General and Minister of
Justice has said.
In an article, Mr Amidu wrote: “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. “

He added: “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 a full copy of Mr Amidu’s article

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!

Source - Martin A. B. K. Amidu

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