Economic policy analyst Senyo Hosi has said Government Communications Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu faces a difficult task defending President John Dramani Mahama’s appointment of Emelia Affi Agbenyo as a Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana.
Ms Agbenyo is associated with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), prompting criticism from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) and other stakeholders who say the appointment raises concerns about the political neutrality of the electoral body.
“Felix is a good communicator, no doubt about that. But in this case, after listening to him throughout the week, I must say his work is very difficult,” Mr Hosi said on TV3’s The KeyPoints on 17 October.
“We voted for a reset, not equalisation or tilting. The government has failed on this; your work is hard. He is being honest. What else can he say? But this is not good.”
Mr Hosi described the appointment as “one of the biggest disappointments of the NDC administration” and said the Mahama administration risked undermining progress made in previous years.
“Don’t waste the political capital that Ghanaians have graced you with,” he added, arguing that the decision did not guarantee the Electoral Commission’s independence.
Governance expert Professor Baffour Agyemang Duah said Ms Agbenyo could not determine the result of an election alone, but argued that appointments to the Electoral Commission should meet a higher standard.
“This appointee is not going to make any difference in terms of who wins the elections. Can she on her own manipulate the process? I don’t think so, but as we try to raise the bar, there is a high expectation that those who are appointed to this commission are not known for their party affiliations,” he said on TV3 on Saturday, 17 October.
Lawyer Martin Kpebu said Ms Agbenyo’s appointment would weaken the Commission’s independence and backed calls for her resignation.
“The appointment of Emelia Agbenyo looks like a fairy tale to me. This appointment doesn’t make sense to me at all because we complained the same when Akufo-Addo made similar appointments,” he said.
President Mahama swore in Ms Agbenyo and Joseph Kwaku Asamoah as Deputy Chairpersons of the Electoral Commission on 12 October 2026. He told them to carry out their constitutional duties independently, firmly and impartially, and said neither he nor his administration should receive preferential treatment.
CODEO criticism
CODEO, which comprises more than 41 member organisations, said its objection was not based on Ms Agbenyo’s professional qualifications or technical ability. It said the concern was the public perception of the Commission’s impartiality and its credibility.
The coalition pointed to Ms Agbenyo’s reported political activity during the 2024 general election campaign. In August 2024, the NDC listed her among its sectoral spokespersons for the party’s manifesto under the governance portfolio. Her LinkedIn biography also identified her as a governance-sector spokesperson during the NDC campaign.
CODEO cited social media posts supporting then NDC presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama, including a 20 September 2024 Facebook video featuring the party campaign song Asempa by NACEE. On 31 October, she posted a photograph of Mr Mahama with a message about restoring democracy and included the hashtags #voteJM2024 and #voteforchange2024. On 2 December, she wrote on X that she would vote against a government that had “ridiculed the pains of the people”.
The coalition said public trust in the Electoral Commission reached its lowest rating in 2024, according to Afrobarometer, and called on Ms Agbenyo to resign. It also urged President Mahama to act consistently with his 2023 position, when he criticised the appointment of “known party activists” and called for parliamentary approval of Electoral Commission commissioners through an amendment to Article 43(2) of the 1992 Constitution.
CODEO has previously sought a broader consultation process for appointments, including in 2014 and 2018, and in 2023 called for Dr Peter Appiahene’s resignation over concerns about his alleged NPP affiliation.
It also questioned the Council of State’s lack of transparency in advising the President, as required under the Constitution, and renewed calls for an open, competitive and merit-based appointment system involving a reformed Council of State, the Public Services Commission and prior parliamentary approval.
