Henry Nana Boakye
The National Organizer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of attempting to undermine the independence of the Electoral Commission (EC).
The NDC has been calling for the EC to cede its constitutional mandate regarding the voter register to a third party, but Boakye argues that this is a blatant breach of the EC’s independence.
According to Henry Nana Boakye in a statement, the 1992 Constitution and the Electoral Commission Act, 1993, explicitly grant the EC the power to compile electoral registers and supervise elections.
The Supreme Court has consistently upheld the EC’s independence in several cases, including Philip Kwaku Apaloo (2010), Ransford France (2012), Abu Ramadan Series (No. 1 and 2), and NDC v AG (2020).
Nana Boakye emphasized that the EC has successfully collaborated with political parties to address concerns and conduct successful elections throughout the 4th Republic.
He warned that the NDC’s insistence on introducing a third party into the EC’s constitutional mandate is a threat to the commission’s independence.
Below is his full statement:
The NDC has failed to provide any legal basis for its unwarranted call for the Electoral Commission to cede its constitutional mandate regarding the voter register to some third party.
Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 2 of the Electoral Commission Act, 1993 (Act 451), exclusively confers on the Electoral Commission, the mandate of compiling electoral register and supervising all elections.
In pursuance of this mandate, Article 46 of the Constitution and Section 3 of Act 451 expressly guarantees the independence of the Commission in the performance of its functions and make it not subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.
The Supreme Court, in several cases including Philip Kwaku Apaloo, (2010), Ransford France (2012), Abu Ramadan Series (No. 1 and 2) and NDC v AG (2020) has upheld the independence of the EC and affirmed that where multiple choices avail the EC in the performance of its functions, the EC has the sole discretion to choose one and nobody, not even the Courts can compel otherwise except the decision is unconstitutional.
The present choice of the EC in working with the parties to address any concerns has been the practice throughout the 4th Republic and successfully resulted in five (5) elections.
The insistence of the NDC in controlling the EC by compelling the introduction of a 3rd party into the execution of the EC’s constitutional mandate is a breach of its independence. More so, when the EC throughout its processes has constantly engaged parties at IPAC and actively worked to resolve any concerns.
The NDC should know, that while the EC may engage stakeholders in the performance of its functions, that cannot be construed as conferring a right to decide what choices the EC makes in the execution of its constitutional mandate.
-BY Daniel Bampoe