Barely days after President John Dramani Mahama dismissed the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, through the due process of the law, questions are now surfacing about the fate of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa and her two deputies, Dr Eric Bossman Asare and Samuel Tettey.
The concerns follow a petition allegedly sent to the President by a pressure group – Positive Transparency and Accountability Movement Africa – an individual petitioner, Daniel Ofosu Appiah.
The Positive Transparency and Accountability Movement Africa highlighted three grounds for the EC Chair’s removal; firstly causing financial loss to the state, secondly creation of a constitutional crisis and thirdly allegations of misconduct.
The petitioners, who sent their petitions to the presidency, sometime in January 2025, also accused the EC Chairperson and her deputies of breaching fundamental human rights, incompetence, bias and acts that undermine public confidence in the Commission’s impartiality and integrity, contrary to Articles 23 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution.
Central to their petition is the alleged disenfranchisement of voters in the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) areas during the 2020 parliamentary elections, an incident they argue violated Article 42 of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to vote.
Commenting on the development on Joy FM, former United Nations Senior Governance Adviser, Prof.BaffourAgyeman-Duah, said there are strong indications that the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) may indeed move to sack the EC Chairperson and her deputies.
According to him, political precedents suggest such a move is likely. He recalled that while in opposition, John Dramani Mahama had openly stated that an NDC government would remove the Chief Justice, an action already carried out.
“It would not be surprising,” Prof. Agyeman-Duah noted, “if Jean Mensa, Dr. Bossman Asare and Samuel Tettey become the next targets.”
Prof. Agyeman-Duah further pointed to the dismissal of former EC Chairperson Charlotte Osei under the previous NPP administration as a turning point.
That action, he argued, set a precedent that has now opened the door for political actors to target heads of supposedly independent bodies.
He warned that such interference risks eroding public trust in state institutions that are mandated to remain impartial, stressing that the trend represents a troubling politicisation of Ghana’s democratic governance.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Positive Transparency and Accountability Movement Africa, speaking on JOY FM, expressed optimism about the outcome of the petition submitted to President John Dramani Mahama.
He, however, cautioned that if they do not receive an appreciable response, the group will have no choice but to take their case to the media and the general public.
