Weaken EC boss' powers – Lawyer

The constitutional provision that created the office the Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC) should be amended in order to have co-chairs for the election management body, Nana Oppong, a private legal practitioner has suggested.

According to him, when the powers of the Chair are distributed to others, it will help to avert some of the misunderstandings that have lately bedeviled the commission.

Some concerned staff of the election management body has petitioned the president to remove Mrs Osei from office. The petition borders on fraud and financial malfeasance.

She has counter-alleged corruption against his deputies insisting that she has done nothing wrong but being hounded because she is fighting internal graft.

She has also sued the lawyer representing the anonymous petitioners, Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, for defamation.

The accusations and counter allegations have thrown the EC into a state of turmoil with critics saying it has lost its credibility to conduct elections in the future in its current state.

Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Thursday July 27, Mr Oppong said: “Practically, they may not be able to work hand-in-hand going forward, and, so, we may probably see resignations or transfers in the near future.”

He added: “I am against the idea of one person being the chair of the commission; we will need to amend the constitution so that we can have co-chairs of the commission who will all have equal powers.



“The responsibility should not be left in the hands of one person who could be bribed or intimidated or be convinced to act in a particular way.

“When you empower one person as chair of the commission, certainly you will have some of these problems that we are seeing today.”