EC Commissioners not law unto themselves – Adei

Former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof Stephen Adei, has said the country’s Electoral Commission must not behave as a law unto itself.

“I think that it’s quite important that we must make it clear that the Commissioners are not Islands of themselves," Prof Adei told a forum organised by policy Think Tank IMANI Ghana in Accra, in commemoration of the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s verdict on last year’s election petition.

“They are there to represent the common good of Ghanaians and what is going to be the process," he said.

According to him, “We don’t want to go through another eight months of uncertainty. And much will depend on their conduct…the country’s stability depends upon their conduct and their behavior."

The Supreme Court, on August 29, 2013, upheld the victory of President John Mahama in the December 2012 general elections following an 8-month-long hearing of a petition filed by the presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party Nana Akufo-Addo, his Running Mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s Chairman at the time, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

The petitioners argued that the elections were marred by irregularities, which affected the sanctity of the results.