Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has called for the removal of the entire leadership of the Electoral Commission (EC), asserting that the current team is unfit to manage credible elections in Ghana.
“There has to be a change… The three top leadership must all go. They have managed the commission so badly,” he said.
Speaking on Joy News on Wednesday, June 25, Asiedu Nketia criticised the Commission’s handling of recent electoral matters, particularly the unresolved parliamentary election in Ablekuma North, which he described as symptomatic of deeper institutional failure.
“You cannot still be having an election that will go into a stalemate. There is no anticipation of any stalemate in our laws unless people don’t want to do their work well… It’s a clear case of negligence or inability to perform its functions,” he stated.
He cited the disenfranchisement of the SALL constituency in the 2020 general elections as the beginning of what he believes has been a consistent pattern of poor performance under the leadership of EC Chairperson Jean Mensa.
“Six months on after the election, and we still don’t have an elected MP. That must tell you something is wrong,” he said.
“This commission, as presently constituted, took over the reins of the Electoral Commission, and they have never done a satisfactory election… First was SALL. A whole constituency went unrepresented for four years. Now, Ablekuma North. And the Ayawaso West by-election? Everything has been messed up,” he added.
Asiedu Nketia argued that the Electoral Commission needs to be fundamentally restructured to meet its constitutional mandate.
“Resetting the EC means bringing it back to an institution that is fit for purpose. The way it is existing now, it is not fit for purpose.”
He concluded with a stinging rebuke of the current administration’s continued support for the EC’s leadership:
“If in any serious country we want to maintain this type of Electoral Commission, then I don’t know what the country is about.”
