A Member of a Political Party can be a Member of the EC, Since Elections are Won at the Polling Station (Constituency)

The Narrative Hook
With over hundred years of democratic governance under the same Constitution in the United States, , of America, National and local elections for Federal and State Officers as President of USA, Governors of States a Senators for the Congress etc and Local Offices are ran by the executive branch of each state government, hence organized by visible politicians. Elections are won at the polling station so, what matter are the secret of the vote and security of the ballot papers and their boxes.

Same in Sweden, Switzerland Denmark, Singapore and Tunisia. Thus appointees of EC being members of a Political Party should not be an issue at all in Ghana, since elections are won at the polling station. What must be an issue of serious concern is the Security of the voters and the ballot box.

Clause 4 of Article 232 of the Constitution explicitly states that members of the NCCE Board shall be persons who "do not hold office in any political party. It was therefore very strange when some Ghanaians especially from the Stable of the NPP, alleged that Lady Mrs Charlotte Osei, who was the Chairperson of the NCCE, hence by that was not a member of political party and she only resigned from the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on June 29, 2015, prior to being sworn in as the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana on June 30, 2015.

Thus Lady Mrs Charlotte Osei could not be a member of the NDC at the time of her appointment by President Mahama to be Chairperson of the EC though nothing legally or constitutionally prohibits a member of EC from being a member of a Political Party. A Member of EC is only required to be functional independent.

The 1992 Constitution is very cleat that elections are won at the polling stations. So though the way of her resignation and the immediate appointment raised an element of suspicion of a likely secret agenda. Since considering the over millions of qualified persons. Though this suspicion looked sound because common sense could tell that she was enticed by the then President to resign from Chairperson of the NCCE to be handed the appointment of Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana on June 30, 2015.

But not easy to change the narrative as explained below due to security implications as explained by her and the actions of the Asantehene during the time Ghana was sitting on time bomb. Suggest election is about security. The beautiful wife Hon Mr Julius Debra of Hon Mr Asiedu Nketia or or the beautiful wife of His Excellency Dr Bawumia cannot change the Result if as Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the EC. So the new nominees especially lady Afi should be allowed and supported to have peaceful mind to perform her duties at the EC.

It must be noted that Ghana Executive Presidential System is somehow based on the time-tested US Presidential System of Government so to some extent the Constitution of the United States of America, so this may be the reason why the very wise Framers of the Constitution did not explicitly bar ordinary political party members from being appointed to the Electoral Commission (EC). But ordinary political party members are explicitly barred from being appointed to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) as at Clause 4 of Article 232 of the Constitution.

It should be very clear that the framers of the Constitution deliberately did not forbid party members to be appointed as members of the EC Board. They felt the focus is entirely on functional independence of the appointees, thus how the commissioner must assume independence, impartial and thus act professionally once they swear the oath of office.

Need to hammer to fellow Ghanaians that elections are won at the polling stations, so from Retired Major Mohammed Bogobiri , a Student of Risk Management, thus a correct security analysis means that the framers did not intend to outright disqualify someone as a member of the EC simply for holding a political party membership card.

Thankfully, History tells that what should matter greatly is for Parties to ensure very good/reasonable security in the Constituency especially the Polling Stations; hence they must demand the Police for election security are armed and provide enough personnel at areas noted to be hot spots and must ensure good monitoring of the Police on duty and the effective security of the ballot boxes. So Players for an election must ensure effective and efficient security on the days of the elections.

Introduction
It is very important for Ghanaians to understand the issues with National elections for Political Offices and do the right thing to ensure the stability of the Nation, hence this paper is an attempt to provide the facts and suggest the way forward.

Clause 4 Article 232 of the Constitution explicitly states that members of the NCCE Board shall be persons who are qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament but "do not hold office in any political party". But according to Article 44 of the Constitution to be appointed to the EC, a person must only meet the qualifications required to be elected a Member of Parliament (MP). . To be an MP, one must be a citizen, registered voter, etc. Being a member of a political party is actually standard for running as an MP, this complicates any argument that party membership itself is an automatic disqualifier for appointment of a member of EC’s Board.

Since, ironically, to become a Member of Parliament, one is usually heavily involved in a political party. So one may ask why to be at least the Deputy Chairman of the EC, the affected person is required to have the qualifications of elected Member of Parliament and not a Justice of High Court, since the enjoy the same terms and condition as applicable to that of Justices of the High Court and not that of a Member of Parliament. Hence juicy packages to ensure effective functional independence.

This is very important when the Qualifications of the Chairman of the Commissioner and a Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice is tied to the Qualifications for appointment as a Justice of the Court of Appeal or appointment of a Justice of a High Court respectively .

The Qualifications are one must be a person qualified to be a Justice of the High Court which must be a person of high moral character, proven integrity and is of at least ten years standing as a Lawyer.

So, though the Constitutional text remains entirely silent on barring political party card-bearers or activists from being appointed this should tell that political party membership card holder can be a member of the EC board.

This silence in the text of the Constitution seen as leaving a gap, but is right to argue that from a purposive or intent-based standpoint, though textually and legally, the Constitution does not explicitly bar a political party member from being appointed to the Electoral Commission (EC).

The legal interpretation of this state of affairs is based on the legal rule expressio unius est exclusio alterius that is the express mention of one thing implies the exclusion of all others. Since the framers of the Constitution explicitly added a partisan restriction for the NCCE, but chose not to add that exact restriction for the EC under Article 44 of the Constitution. A literal interpretation means the framers did not intend to outright disqualify someone simply for holding a political party membership card.

In constitutional law, it will be noted that if the framers knew how to explicitly bar political office holders in one section (like the NCCE), but chose not to repeat that restriction for the EC, a court will often presume that the omission was intentional. This made strict textualists to argue that the framers of the Constitution intentionally left it to be opened. Under this view, as long as an appointee behaves independently once in office, their past or present political sympathies do not disqualify them.

While the letter of the law does not bar a party member, critics and civil society organizations argue that the spirit of the Constitution demands absolute institutional neutrality. They point to Article 46 of the Constitution which states that the EC "shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority".

These requirements should rather tell that an active political party member or high-profile sympathizer when appointed must exercise the level of independence to remain in Office since his terms and conditions are the same for Justices of the High Court, so he or she must behave like a Justice of the High Court.

So, the framers of the Constitution deliberately did not forbid party members. The focus is entirely on functional independence that is how the commissioner acts once they swear the oath of office.

It is important for a Better Ghana to account that in Manasseh Azure Awuni’s book, “The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound.” Indicates that the posture of Mrs Charlotte Osei was not the best for Ghana since as the then Chairperson for the Electoral Commission (EC) in 2016, Mrs Charlotte Osei phoned then President Mahama, requesting him to find out from the military high command whether it was safe to go ahead with the declaration of the results.

Manasseh revealed in the book that President John Mahama met with the top commanders of the military who told him the troops were aware of the winner of the Election then as Candidate Hon Mr Nana Addo before he conceded defeat.

Explaining the need to get a green light from the military before the declaration of the results, Mrs Charlotte Osei stated that the declaration of the results had security implications, hence her request by phone to the then President Mahama, requesting him to find out from the military high command whether it was safe to go ahead with the declaration of the results.

Hmm, what also created some serious doubt with the reason gave by for the delay for the declaration of the election by Mrs Charlotte Osei was the speech of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11 at the United Nations High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace in New York, that his palace deployed its traditional moral authority to resolve a brewing post-electoral crisis following Ghana's 2016 general election.

He stated that at the conclusion of the 2016 election, "the country stood on the edge of disaster" while UN representatives and the diplomatic corps were alarmed that Ghana might slide into electoral violence. So to avert a crisis during the highly tense waiting period and transition, the Asantehene explained his behind-the-scenes actions: He arranged a private meeting and used the moral authority of the Manhyia Palace to intervene and persuaded the losing candidate to accept the final results. This Suggest that but for the intervention of the King, there was an initial attempt to change the narrative by not accepting the verdict of the voters.

He shared this experience to highlight on how time-honored African traditional institutions act as a crucial, trusted layer of moral mediation behind the curtains when modern political governance faces severe trust deficits and stability risks

Retired COP Kofi Boakye confirmed to some media houses of the very good works of the Asantehene. Google for Retired COP Kofi Boakye proclamation that It took Otumfuo intervention before EC declared results — By Gideon Afful Amoako.

The way forward
History tells that what should matter greatly is for Parties to ensure very good/reasonable security in the Constituency especially the Polling Stations; hence they (players) must demand the Police for election security are armed and provide enough personnel at areas noted to be hot spots and must ensure good monitoring of the Police on duty and the effective security of the ballot boxes. So Players for an election must ensure effective and efficient security on the days of the elections.

Election commission
An Election Commission is an institution responsible with organizing controlling/ managing, the running of electioneering process of any country. An election commission has a duty to ensure elections are conducted in an orderly manner.

Electoral models: Election commissions can be independent, mixed, judicial or executive. They may also be responsible for electoral boundary delimitation In Federal System of Government a Federation, there may be a separate body for each subnational government.

Independent model; In the independent model, the election commission is independent of the executive and manages its own budget. Countries with an independent election commission include Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, India, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. In some of these countries, the independence of the election commission is constitutionally guaranteed, for example, section 190 of the Constitution of South Africa.

Executive model: In the executive model the election commission is directed by a cabinet minister as part of the executive branch of government, and may include officials of local government acting as agents of the central body. Countries with this model include Sweden, Switzerland Denmark, Singapore, , Tunisia. In the United States, elections for federal, state, and local offices are run by the executive branch of each state government hence by politicians.

Branch model: In the branch model, the election commission is often called an electoral branch, and is usually a constitutionally recognized distinct arm of government. , with its members appointed by either the legislative arm of government or executive arm of government Countries with an electoral branch include Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.

Mixed model: In the mixed-model there is an independent board to determine policy, but implementation is usually a matter for an executive department with varying degrees of supervision by the independent board. Countries with such a model include Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Cameroon and Senegal.

Judicial model: In the judicial model the election commission is closely supervised by and ultimately responsible to a special Electoral Court.. Countries with such a model include Brazil which recently organized an election that saw President Lula winning the election, likewise Mexico and Argentina

Ghana’s Electoral Commission
Though Ghana’s Constitution adopted the US Presidential System of democracy, it departed from the USA and adopted the Independent Model, So the EC is classified globally by international bodies (like International IDEA) under the Independent Model, since the EC is constitutionally insulated from the executive arm of government especially financially autonomous via the Consolidated Fund and is formally accountable directly to the citizens through Parliament.

So, from an institutional framework perspective, the EC operates under an Independent Electoral Management Body (EMB) model. The structural and leadership breakdown includes the following key features:

Management Structure: The Commission manages its operations through a three-tier system comprising (a). The Head Office in Accra. (b).16 Regional Offices, and (c). Various District Offices. The central Head Office, Accra features seven core Functional Departments managed directly under the Chairman and two Deputy Chairmen.

The Executive Role: While policy-making and general supervision are handled collectively by a seven (7)-member commission, the Chairman holds the explicit designation of Chief Executive. Under the legal structure of Ghana's electoral system, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) officially functions as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commission