Governance expert Senyo Hosi has accused the Mahama administration of undermining confidence in Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) by appointing Emelia Affi Agbenyo as a deputy chairperson.
Mr Hosi said the decision failed to meet the expectations of voters who had supported a change in approach.
“We voted for a reset, not equalisation or tilting. The government has failed on this; your work is hard,” he said on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday, October 17.
He described the appointment as “one of the biggest disappointments of the NDC administration”.
Professor Baffour Agyemang Duah, another governance expert, also questioned the decision to appoint a politically exposed person to the EC.
Although he said Ms Agbenyo could not determine the result of an election by herself, he argued that appointments to the Commission should strengthen public confidence.
“This appointee is not going to make any difference in terms of who wins the elections,” he said.
“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.”
Lawyer Martin Kpebu said Ms Agbenyo’s appointment would weaken the EC’s independence and backed calls from the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) for her to resign.
“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.
“The appointment of Emelia Agbenyo will weaken the independence of the Electoral Commission.”
President John Dramani Mahama swore in Ms Agbenyo and Joseph Kwaku Asamoah as EC deputy chairpersons on October 12, 2026. He told them to perform their constitutional duties independently, firmly and impartially.
Mr Mahama said neither he nor his administration should receive preferential treatment, and instructed the commissioners to apply the law equally to all political parties and candidates.
CODEO said its objection was not based on Ms Agbenyo’s professional qualifications or technical ability, but on documented evidence of her political engagement with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the 2024 general election campaign.
The coalition said she had been announced as an NDC sectoral spokesperson for its governance portfolio in August 2024. It also cited social-media posts supporting the party’s then-presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, including posts on 20 September, 31 October and 2 December 2024.
CODEO said such associations could damage public perceptions of the EC’s neutrality. It referred to Afrobarometer findings that public trust in the Commission reached its lowest rating in 2024.
The coalition has previously called for broader consultation over EC appointments, including those of Charlotte Osei, Jean Mensah, Dr Bossman Asare and Samuel Tetteh. In 2023, it also called for Dr Peter Appiahene to resign because of alleged links to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
CODEO noted that Mr Mahama, then in opposition, had criticised the appointment of “known party activists” and supported amending Article 43(2) of the 1992 Constitution to require parliamentary approval for new commissioners.
It is now calling on Ms Agbenyo to resign, on President Mahama to apply his previous position consistently, and on the government to introduce transparent, merit-based appointments with parliamentary oversight.
The coalition also urged the Council of State to create processes allowing citizens to assess how it performs its constitutional advisory role. It said proposed reforms involving the Constitutional Review Committee, a reformed Council of State, the Public Services Commission and prior parliamentary approval should be reconsidered.
