Time To Retire

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan 
The Electoral Commission (EC) is on the spotlight again. It did not leave the place, anyway, since its poor management of the last elections made nasty headlines in the media.

That was when Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan failed to fly in the witness box at the Supreme Court as he accounted for how figures did not add up in many polling stations during the most notorious elections in the country in 2012.

His diction and good command of the English language did not spare him the embarrassment of the mess at the Finger of God polling station and other polling stations.

The time is due for the old man to exit the EC – a place where he loved to watch cartoons in his office and peruse lotto numbers. He has rare hobbies which he follows religiously even as Ghanaians wait anxiously on him to announce election results.

The demand for President John Mahama to announce a replacement for the man many Ghanaians love to hate must not tarry any longer.

Professional organisations and pressure groups have already commenced asking the president to start the process of a replacement.

The continued stay in office of Dr. Afari-Gyan is not the best, especially now that the pressure for him to leave is mounting and originating from various quarters.

Considering the failure of Dr. Afari-Gyan to give an impressive account of his stewardship over the years and his offensive stubbornness, keeping him any longer would incur the wrath of many Ghanaians and indeed stain the integrity of election management once more.

The next person to take over the management of the EC should be one with an outstanding pedigree, one whose reverence cuts across the various political parties.

Choosing a person with a political party membership card tucked between his or her legs would irritate, not amuse, wide awaken Ghanaians who demand nothing but a firm and fair EC Chairman.

An EC Chairman who does not command such respect is not the ideal candidate we are yearning for. Having watched the dynamism of local politics over the years to date, we are convinced in our minds that such a personality would be stoking the fire of electoral confusion when he or she fails to perform his or her role to the satisfaction of Ghanaians.

With coups no longer endemic and as Ghanaians especially chose the ballot box for changing or retaining governments, managing the process which ensures this should be a serious business.

Serious election management businesses which Kwadwo is discredited for failing to effect before retiring to his tilapia farm, are the mandatory electoral reforms and the cleaning of our ghost-infested voters' register. Even if a replacement is announced with the acquiescence of the political parties of course, the despicable state of the voters' register remains a live threat to national security.

As for Kwadwo, perhaps even in retirement he would be consistently haunted by the Finger of God and those of Ghanaians he shortchanged.