[ 2015-04-23 ]

Council Of State Should Appoint EC Chair – VCRAC Crabbe
A retired Supreme Court Judge and former Chairman
of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Justice
V.C.R.A.C Crabbe says, in essence, it is the
council of state that makes the appointment of the
chairperson of the Commission.

“According to Article 70(2) of the 1992
Constitution, “the President shall, acting on
the advice of the Council of State, appoint the
Chairman, Deputy Chairmen, and other members of
the Electoral Commission”.

A heated political and legal debate has ensued
over who wields the decisive power in this
instance: the President or the Council of State.

A subsidiary question concerns what process, if
any, must inform the “advice” of the Council
of State in this matter.

But the former Supreme Court Judge believes
“when the constitution uses such language acting
in accordance with the advice of the council of
state, in essence, it is the council of state
which is making the appointment, because the
expression shall act in accordance is mandatory
and therefore in law at least the president is
bound by the decision of the council of state.”

BROADER CONSULTATION

There is mounting pressure on the appointing
authority to consult widely on who replaces Dr.
Afari Gyan. Already there is pressure mounting on
President Mahama to broaden the scope of
consultation on who becomes the next EC boss.

The New Patriotic Party(NPP) 2016 presidential
candidate, Nana Akufo Addo just recently called on
the President to consult widely before the
appointing a new Chairman of the Electoral
Commission.

Addressing students at University of Cape Coast
(UCC), Nana Akufo-Addo stated that the appointment
of the new Electoral Commission boss requires
vigorous consultation.

“In many many other jurisdictions across the
world, whoever successfully emerges as the Head of
the Electoral Commission is put through a rigorous
selection procedure which includes wide
stakeholder consultation, vetted by a committee
often in public and finally approval by a special
majority…I will respectively urge the President
to abide by the constitution and allow the council
of state to do its work openly and
transparently,” he stated.

The Minority Spokesperson on Legal and
Constitutional Affairs, Joe Osei Owusu earlier
made similar calls.

In backing calls for greater transparency in
naming a new EC boss, Joe Osei Owusu who is also
the Member of Parliament for Bekwai earlier said
both the President and the Council of State will
serve Ghana’s democracy very well if they open
the process to carry along all stakeholders.

The head of the United Nations Office for West
Africa UNOWA, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas however
disagrees, Dr Chambas insist the appointing
authority should just go by the dictates of the
constitution and not complicate the process by
heeding to calls for broader consultations.

But the former Supreme Court judge in an exclusive
interview with Citi News’ Raymond Acquah
maintains there is nothing wrong with calls for
consultations “anybody who says that there
should be wide consultations is right and just
echoing something which behind the scenes happens
in any democracy.”

He however believes that “it is the
responsibility of the council of state to do the
consultation” and then present a rank ordered
list to the President.

The man who set-up the electoral commission in
1968 also stated that the establishing consensus
with all the stakeholders is critical to the
conduct of successful elections in 2016. “What I
want to emphasize is the consensus aspect of these
appointments.”

Source - Daily Guide

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