Political Scientist and Senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has slammed President Akufo-Addo for purportedly decimating all independent state institutions during his tenure.
This criticism of the President from the vociferous Professor Gyampo follows an alleged Circular which is directing all senior officials of the Electoral Commission to submit their CVs to the HR department for onward submission to the Jubilee House following the directive of the President.
It is however unclear the motive behind the President’s directive since the Cirular was silent on that however, it must be noted that per the circular, the directive applies to all state institutions.
In what appears as an open letter, Prof. Gyampo noted that he cannot fathom why the President will give such a directive to a constitutionally independent institution.
He noted that this directive and other actions of President Akufo-Addo show that he will go down in history as the worse president who decimated all the independent state institutions during his tenure.
“It appears under your tenure, you are doing everything you can to decimate the independence of all independent institutions, but to what end? The history of Ghana’s Fourth Republic shows that you are currently the worse President in promoting the sanctity of the independence of the Electoral Commission,” the senior lecturer indicated.
He noted that the President’s excesses have largely gone unchecked due to the lack of courageous people to call him to order.
“Unfortunately, there aren’t courageous people around you to tell you to back off your attempts at annexing the Electoral Commission. Back in the days, Dan Botwe as General Secretary of the NPP could boldly tell President Kufuor in the face to back off his attempt to usurp the procurement powers of the Electoral Commission and the President had no choice than to listen.”
He has thus urged Akufo-Addo to quietly complete his term in office and leave without encroaching any further on the independent bodies of state.
“Please leave office and leave the sanctity of our independent institutions intact. This is not a practice worth emulating or repeating, Sir. This demand is unnecessary and it’s optics for the quest to deal with the independence deficit of the Electoral Commission are bad,” he said.
