The Member of Parliament for the Kwadaso constituency in the Ashanti Region, Professor Kingsley Nyarko, is fighting off claims that the alleged instruction from the presidency requesting the CVs of senior management members of the Electoral Commission is an attempt to compromise the independence of the EC.
According to the former executive Director of the Danquah Institute, the request is for a “noble objective.”
His comment comes on the back of criticism from a political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, questioning the authority of the presidency in demanding for those CVs.
“The history of Ghana’s fourth republic shows that you (President Akufo Addo) are currently the worse president in promoting the sanctity of the independence of the Electoral Commission.
“Why do you want to do this to an independent commission? It appears under your tenure, you are doing everything you can to decimate the independence of all independent institutions, but to what end?” the UG lecturer stated.
But the Kwadaso MP disagrees with, questioning why people are being emotional about the issue.
He stressed that they rather ought to have ascertained the reason behind the request before making such sweeping statements.
“In my view I think this will help go through the CV’s to ascertain the competencies of these individuals. For all you know, we don’t have accurate data, so this is for a noble objective. I wouldn’t sit here and say that because the directive is coming from the office of the President, there’s mischief behind it,” he told the morning show host of Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, Kwesi Parker-Wilson.
The MP also admonished the public to be circumspect in matters of this nature, insisting that they can make conclusive statements after the reasons for the request are made public.
“You cannot look at this on the face value and conclude unless you point to mischief. So, what if at the end of the day this turns out to be a good thing, what will people say again? So, we have to be very circumspect. We don’t have to be emotional and say things like that,” he stressed.
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