South Dayi MP to take legal action against appointment of EC board members
The Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekepor, has decided to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the appointment of two new Electoral Commission (EC) board members, Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani and Dr Peter Appiahene.
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Mr. Dafeamkepor intends to get the Supreme Court to pronounce on the appointments, get it revoked, as well as an order restraining the two members from acting as part of the EC board.
His reason is that the two new members are politically affiliated to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and he intends to demonstrate that to the Supreme Court.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) for instance have raised an issue with the two new appointments, arguing that the two are politically affiliated.
Dr Appiahene for instance has been linked to the students wing of the NPP - TESCON - with the allegation that he was once a patron of TESCON in the Bono Region.
For Hajia Tijani, it is not very clear how her association is with the NPP except that some have said she has family members who have close ties with the NPP.
The appointments of Dr Appiahene and Hajia Tijani were made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in March 2023 in accordance with Article 43 (1 and 2) of the 1992 constitution, which stipulates the composition of the Electoral Commission.
The opposition National Democratic Congress has written to the Council of State for it to reconsider its advice to the President on the appointment of the two new board members.
CODEO through Dr Fred Deegbe, a leading member has called for the pair's resignation to safeguard 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," Dr Deegbe said.
"However, nothing stops the affected appointees, namely Dr Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Tijani from voluntarily and honourably resigning from the EC.
Suit not filed yet at Supreme Court registry
Mr. Dafeamkepor is yet to file the suit at the Supreme Court registry, checks by Graphic Online has shown.
