Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dan Kwaku Botwe, has scored the outgoing Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan 80% base on his performance.
Dr. Afari-Gyan, bade farewell to the staff of the commission at a brief durbar on Thursday, June 18. He turns 70 years today June 18, which is the statutory age required to retire from his post.
Dan Botwe, is who MP for Okere and doubles as Minority Chief Whip told Adom News that based on his experience with Dr. Afari-Gyan he will score him 80 percent would be an appropriate score.
Dan Botwe said as Dr. Gyan prepares to leave office the EC Boss job must be given to a person who has similar attributes like him.
“I have worked with him [Dr Afari-Gyan] very closely since 1996 and he is very objective and very difficult to influence, he cannot be also pushed around by any political party”, Dan Botwe said.
“I congratulate him for his performance, he is a shining star of Africa and well respected but I was disappointed and still disagreed with him over his definition for over voting at the Supreme Court during the 2012 presidential elections” the Okere legislator stated.
“I can’t tell why a section of the public has lost confidence in him, because election results are partisan and you don’t expect everyone to be happy about Dr. Gyan’s declaration” the Minority Chief Whip emphasized.
“People cannot crucify him because of few things that went wrong during the 2012 general elections; because some of the electoral officers that supervised the elections were not staffs of EC and because he is the Chair people are putting all the blame on him” the Okere lawmaker stressed.
Dan Botwe urged President John Mahama and members of the Council of State to select a suitable replacement for the outgoing EC boss.
However, the immediate past General Secretary of NPP Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie aka “Sir John” has described the performance of the outgoing Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) as very abysmal.
Sir John says Afari-Gyan’s exit is a shameful and a disgraceful one especially as all his actions from 2012 till date have ruled out all his hard work at the commission over the years.
Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing and MP for Bodi, Sampson Kwaku Ahi said Dr. Gyan deserves commendation for his hard work over the years.
He also scored Dr. Afari Gyan 90%, adding that he deserves a monument from the president of Ghana for his undisputed work ethic over the years.
Meanwhile, the head of the Political Science Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Richard Amoako Baah said the EC chairman has done well over the years but his recent performance has destroyed the later stage of his work.
He says giving him marks will be very difficult because of what happened during the 2012 elections.
Dr Afari-Gyan chaired the conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 and was part of the commission that conducted the 1992 elections, as he was a deputy commissioner to the then chairman of the then Interim National Electoral Commission (INEC), Justice Josiah Ofori Boateng, along with the late Essumejahene, Nana Oduro Numapau.
But after the 2012 general elections, his role at the commission has been called into question by some governance experts.
Source: myjoyonline
