Dr. Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani have been requested to resign from the Electoral Commission immediately by the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO).
President Akufo-Addo named Dr. Appiahene and Ahmed Tijani to the Election Commission’s board in March 2023.
Because of their political ties to the in power NPP, the two’s selection has drawn criticism.
In a previous interview with Citi News, Kofi Adams, the NDC’s member of parliament for Buem, said that Dr. Appiahene was an NPP activist and a supporter of the Tertiary Education Student Confederacy Network (TESCON), the NPP’s student branch.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, a leading member of CODEO, Rev. Dr Fred Degbey called for Dr Appiahene and Hajia Salima Tijani to resign to protect the cross-party trust in the commission.
“We are painfully aware that voluntary and constitutionally grounded revocation of these unfortunate and democratically problematic EC appointments by the President is extremely unlikely. However, nothing stops the affected appointees, namely Dr Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Tijani from voluntarily and honourably resigning from the EC.
“This will be in the supreme interest of our country’s continued democratic progress, election peace and credibility and indeed overall national interest.”
The appointments were made in accordance with Article 43 (1 and 2) of the 1992 constitution, which says that “there shall be an electoral commission, consisting of a chairman, two deputy chairs, and four other members.”
One of the institutions of government established by the constitution of 1992 is the Electoral Commission.
It was created by the Electoral Commission Act (Act 451) of 1992 with the express goal of managing the conduct of all national elections and referendums and handling any issues that are directly relevant to such elections.
