The Electoral Commission has denied there is a cold war among the seven commissioners of the Electoral Commission.
Refuting the claim made by Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Assistant Head of Communications at the election management body, Alhassan Ayuba, said on Tuesday 4 April on Accra-based Citi FM: “The Commissioners relate well with each other. I don’t know where that information is coming from.
“It is an institution governed by rules and there are structures and they work cordially among themselves. …Two weeks [ago] they had a meeting and all of them attended … so I am stating emphatically that what I know is that there is a very cordial relationship between the Commissioners.”
Last week, a report by the Special Budget Committee of Parliament revealed that there was deep-seated mistrust between the Chairperson of the EC, Charlotte Osei, and the six other commissioners.
According to the committee’s report, this lack of trust among the commissioners was negatively affecting the operations of the commission in conducting elections.
This was made known during the debate for the approval of the 2017 annual estimates of the EC to the tune of GHS33.9million.
Accordingly, the committee has recommended that the Chairperson and other members of the commission deal in a much more open and transparent manner in order to do away with the existing mistrust.
Chairman of the Special Budget Committee, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, urged members of the commission to work on their differences in the supreme interest of the country.
“The general observation from the committee was that the commissioners are not on good terms. It cannot be good for the conduct of elections. For instance, when they appeared before us and we asked the whereabouts of the chairman, the deputy commissioner said: ‘My information is that she has travelled outside’ without informing the others. They don’t know that she is outside the country. The deputy commissioners didn’t know the whereabouts of the chairperson of the commission. It cannot be good for the image of the commission. That is why we are saying that we should find a way to resolve the differences amongst them because ultimately it will impact on the conduct of elections…” the Member of Parliament for Suame stated.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
