Bossman Asare Should Have Resigned Long Ago

In 2018, when Charlotte Osei and two other Deputy Commissioners were removed on flimsy excuses, every Ghanaian except NPP members was not only sad but worried about what such a precedent would mean for Ghana’s democracy. It was the first time a government had changed the commissioners at the EC. But for the restraint and emotional tact of the NDC, there would have been chaos in this country. The NPP was so happy that it had taken over a sensitive constitutional body such as the EC. To them, the NPP would now remain in office for long and that the NDC could never win any elections. The trust and confidence hitherto associated with the Electoral Commission were gone and buried under extreme partisan interest over national interest.

By July 2018, the President had nominated Jean Mensa as Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Bossman Asare as Deputy Commissioner, and Mr. Samuel Tettey as another Deputy. Many questioned the neutrality of Jean Mensa and Bossman Asare in particular. It was alleged that Bossman Asare was the TESCON President of the University of Ghana chapter. Of course, all that was noise to the President. He was bent on executing what his party wanted, and he did it excellently.

Immediately after that massive reset, the EC started an agenda for a new voter register. The acts of maneuvering and political gerrymandering were set in motion. IPAC meetings became chaotic but were strategic for the EC, which now used smaller political parties as major stakeholders and did not care what the NDC’s position was in any decision-making. The NDC spoke loudly to the world, but the so-called voices of democracy were deadly silent. No amount of constructive criticism of the EC could be taken in good faith.

In the heat of all this, the actions and utterances of Bossman Asare vindicated many of us who questioned his neutrality and ability to remain an impartial referee. At one point, he came out and told Ghanaians that the NDC was a threat to democracy. See: https://www.citinewsroom.com/2019/04/ndcs-posture-a-threat-to-ghanas-democracy-ec/

Yes, he characterized the NDC at the time it was preparing for an election. If a Commissioner says one of the participants in the 2020 elections is a threat to democracy, what did that mean? It was obvious that he was such a powerful man, backed by executive political power, to exude arrogance and partiality.

The EC forcefully pushed through its agenda and ended up disenfranchising some sections of Ghanaians. Indeed, a whole constituency (SALL) was denied parliamentary representation through deliberate political calculations, a clear breach of the mandate of the Electoral Commission. Despite all of this, the 2020 election was fiercely contested by the NDC, an election that produced an equal number of parliamentary seats. It was obvious that but for these clear acts of political calculation and disenfranchisement, the NPP would have become the minority in Parliament. Even in the presidential elections, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, after declaring the presidential results in favor of President Nana Akufo-Addo, had to change the figures multiple times using press releases.

This was the very point at which Bossman Asare and his gang of election manipulators should have resigned if they had given reason and conscience a chance. Alas, they saw nothing wrong in denying thousands of citizens their right to vote and have parliamentary representation!

It did not end there. The agenda for the 2024 election started with the same hostility towards the NDC. The NDC had to go into the election with vigilance, and many citizens reeling under wanton economic decay, mass discrimination, and untrammeled corruption listened to the NDC. The almost daily scandals and the glaring incompetence of the regime weakened the agenda set up to manipulate the elections as they did in 2020. Indeed, by 2024, almost all the staff at the EC were people appointed by the NPP government, yet the NDC persevered and won the election through vigilance and innovation.

Fast forward: after the NDC took over political power, many believed the government would be vindictive by sacking the Chairperson and all the Deputies at the EC. The NDC decided to leave vengeance to God! Even when citizens petitioned for their removal and it was found that there was no prima facie case, the President handled the petition as such.

Today, we are told Bossman Asare has resigned. Yes, it is not easy. He is being chased by his own shadows. The ghosts of those who died in the 2020 elections are haunting him. His conscience is not giving him any sleep. I am not surprised at all because he demonstrated clearly, too early after his appointment in 2018, that he was unfit for the position. I wish him well as he goes back to the lecture hall. Now he can have the chance to confront the NDC and describe it as a threat to democracy; we shall know what response to give. Where he was, the EC, was not a place for partisanship. He can now add partisanship to his lecturing, and it is his right.

I look forward to the appointment of more credible and non-partisan persons into the Electoral Commission to bring back the trust and confidence in the electoral body.

Denis Andaban
The Village Boy From DBI

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