The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called for the immediate resignation of Dr. Erisc Asare Bossman, a Deputy Commissioner of the Electoral Commission, for campaigning for a ‘Yes‘ vote ahead of the December 17 Referendum.
The Deputy Commissioner recently expressed his support for the amendment of article 55(3) of the Constitution which will provide the choice for Ghanaians to contest for local government office on partisan lines.
In an audio that has gone viral, Dr Bossman made a strong case for why he thought Ghanaians should vote ‘Yes’, adding that the smaller parties, apart from the ruling NPP and the NDC, can also be part of the local governance system should Ghanaians support the cause to amend the constitution and affirm that the district level elections are held on party lines.
“When you look at best practices in many parts of the World, they tend to favour the partisan,” the former University of Ghana lecturer posited, adding “As an academic…when I was teaching in the USA, I used to teach some local government politics. When you look at literature and the best practice argument, what is very clear is that political parties tend to be more responsible when they are given opportunity and let’s be very clear…The best practice argument supports the political parties being engaged at the local level,” he said.
Dr. Bossman went on to make a case that voting ‘Yes’ will help eliminate the “winner-takes-all” political system that has been in use for a long time.
“We shouldn’t also forget that we have always been complaining that the president is given so much powers and we are also complaining about winner-takes-all politics… It [holding partisan elections at the local level] addresses some of the problems with winner-takes-all because not all assemblies will have their Chief Executives from one party,” Dr. Bossman added.
NDC Fire
The EC deputy boss has come under intense fire on social media for his comments, with some saying he made those comments to support the stance of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government which appointed him into office.
Despite the criticisms, NDC National Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has described the conduct of Dr. Bossman as “unprofessional” and has demanded that he resigns to save the already sinking image of the Electoral Commission.
“How can a referee [EC Commissioner] embark on a campaign ahead of a referendum when you know that it is wrong and unacceptable?… If Dr. Bossman has conscience he should resign,” Mr. Ampofo said on Inside Politics on Power 97.9FM Monday afternoon.
His reason was that such actions make Ghanaians doubt the credibility of the electoral body as the country prepares to go to polls to elect a president in December 2020, stressing that the EC must sanction Dr. Bossman for his unprofessional conduct.
Source: Ghana|Myxyzonline.com
