[ 2015-04-19 ]

Baako predicts Supreme Court action over Electoral Commissioner appointment
Managing editor of the New Crusading Guide
newspaper Abdul Kweku Baako Jnr is predicting a
Supreme Court interpretation of the constitution
to settle controversy over the procedure for
appointing the next EC boss.
“I suspect that if we are unable to use
consultation and consensus building to deal with
this issue, we might as well proceed to the
highest court of the land and take an
interpretative judgment on the matter”, Kweku
Baako said on Joy FM's news analysis show,
Newsfile Saturday.
His comments follow the controversy generated
after opposition parties called for the President
to initiate dialogue and broad discussions before
he makes the historic appointment.
President John Mahama will be appointing the next
Electoral Commissioner when Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan
retires in June after holding the position for 22
years.
The appointment which is a rarely chartered
political territory has informed views expressed
by political parties calling for wide and thorough
consultations before the appointment.
But a lawyer Kwame Akuffo has earlier this week
dismissed that call by the opposition for dialogue
and consultations as “unconstitutional”
Article 70, clause 2 of the 1992 Constitution
gives the President the prerogative to appoint the
EC Chairman and Deputies as well as other members
of the Commission on the advice of the Council of
State.
Kwame Akuffo said the constitution speaks only of
the president acting on the advice of the Council
of State as precondition for the appointment of
the EC Chair.
A dialogue with party chairmen is alien to the
appointment process, he signaled. His view has
found some support in the commentary of government
communicators and sympathisers.
But Kweku Baako believes it is in the
“enlightened self-interest” of the country for
the President to be open to consultations on the
appointment.
He believes the proper interpretation on the word
‘advice’ will be key in understanding the
procedure.
“I am convinced that the use of the word
‘advice’, relative to the role the Council of
State plays, gives that whole provision a certain
distinctive character and for that matter dilutes
the presidential authority in the appointment
process”
He explained that in view of the controversial
circumstances surrounding the last elections in
December 2012, calls for consultations before
appointing an Electoral Commissioner should not be
dismissed.
“The broader consultation is not an animal that
should scare us”, he said maintaining that the
spirit of the constitution supports calls for
dialogue.
He acknowledged that not much attention has been
paid to constitutional provisions that tie
decisions of the President to the ‘advice’ of
other persons and bodies.
“We have been lazy about it. We haven’t taken
it seriously. Now it is coming to the fore”,
Baako said.

Source - MyjoyOnline

... go Back