Private Legal practitioner, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw has rubbished the basis for which South Dayi MP, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, has petitioned the court over the appointment of the three members of the Electoral Commission.
According to him, two of the three members are aligned to the ruling government and as such, their appointment will influence the decisions of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Meanwhile, Maurice Ampaw has asked if MP was expecting the President to appoint Sammy Gyamfi or Kinglsey Amaliba of the NDC to the board.
“We know where Charlotte Osei belonged to but who were we to label her as an NDC person and as such, opposed her appointment. We don’t do that”, he told Kwaku Dawuro in a phone interview on Movement TV.
He added that the Supreme Court has the sole mandate to interpret the constitution and he will await to see what the outcome of the ruling will be. However, if everything is subjected to the criteria Nelson Dafeamekpor is giving, then nobody qualifies to occupy any independent position.
“Moreso, no President will appoint his enemy. The only time a President appointed his enemy was when President Akufo-Addo appointed Martin Amidu- a typical NDC person and a future Presidential candidate of the party”, he said.
Stressing that every government is made of friends, family and sympathizers. If you are an appointing authority and you’re not careful and you appoint a non-accuser, an opposer who doesn’t believe in you and anything you stand for, then you are doomed, and therefore, you appoint people who share the same goals and believes as you do.
He explained that appointing members of the Electoral board is like appointing a public officer. There are criteria for doing that- there are things that are looked out for to disqualify candidates. However, the three members are not even commissioners, but they are only going to support the commissioner.
He furthered that he should be able to pinpoint to the exact things for which he wants them disqualified and not because they are aligned to a particular party.
“So why wouldn’t he say Alban Bagbin is he known card bearer member of the NDC and therefore shouldn’t be the Speaker of Parliament since the NPP is in government”, he fumed.