EDITORIAL: New Appointments To The EC

LAST FRIDAY, President John Agyekum Kufuor in exercise of one of his numerous powers under the 1992 Constitution, announced three new appointments to the National Electoral Commission (EC).

They were Mrs Paulina Adobea Dadzawa, an administrator; Nana Amba Eyiiba I, Efutuhemaa and Krontihene of the Oguaa Traditional Area and Madam Eunice Akweley Roberts, an educationist.

Though not specifically stated in the statement signed by presidential press secretary Kwabena Agyapong, the order of rendition of the new appointees and those they were to replace, would seem to suggest that Mrs Dadzawa is replacing Mrs Elizabeth Solomon, Nana Eyiiba I for Mrs Theresa Cole while Madam Akweley Roberts replaces Professor Ernest Dumor, all three of whom have retired after attaining the mandatory 60 years of age. The statement said a fourth appointee for the EC would soon be made public to replace Dr Puni, who had died.

When the news broke some weeks back that some vacancies have become available on the EC, there was quite considerable amount of debate as to whether it was prudent, in view of the forthcoming Election 2004, for President Kufuor, a candidate in one of the elections, to make new appointments to the commission.

The fear appeared to be that he would pack the vacancies with dye-in-the-wool NPP faithful who might feel duty bound to bend the rules where they can in favour of their appointer and his ruling party.

The timing of the announcement of the vacancies, shortly after the government beat a hasty retreat from its plan to impose a ministers-dominated procurement committee on the EC, raised further suspicion that the new appointments may be used to achieve the undue advantage the procurement committee had allegedly been planned to.

But the answer to those fears was sitting there right under our noses ? the members of the commission themselves ? both those to be replaced and those remaining. All seven had been appointed by ex-President Jerry John Rawlings and his NDC, presumably because they were closet NDC; and yet they conducted the 2000 general elections that got the NDC administration booted out of office.

The Gye Nyame Concord welcomes Messrs Dadzawa, Solomon and Cole, the vanguard for the ?greening? of the EC (gender balancing), to the hot seats (especially in an election year) that they have accepted to sit on.

We commend, for their emulation, the impartiality exhibited by their predecessors and their seniors on the commission. They should forget whatever ?marching orders? anybody may give, if any, and resolve to leave only golden footprints in the sands of election administration in the country as did the EC in 2000.

A cursory look in all the countries where there have been ethnic conflicts will show that they were mostly ignited by the lack of confidence in the integrity of the electoral process some of which had openly been skewed in favour of certain identifiable ethnic groups to the exclusion of others.

The dream of this government and its predecessor has been to make Ghana the gateway to the West African sub-region, and ultimately the preferred destination.

That can only happen if we remained the oasis of political stability in a desert of political instability and mayhem.

Members of our EC hold the key to that stability. No matter who appoints them they must always remember that their duty is to Mother Ghana and not to any transient political figure, even if he or she appear larger than life and assume the proportions of Mount Olympus. And the Gye Nyame Concord expects them to make that commitment today, if they have not done so already.

A word to the wise is always said to be enough.