Pressure group Research and Advocacy Forum has stated that the Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, must be afforded utmost veneration given “his over two decades of dedicated service to mother Ghana”.

“Dr Afari-Gyan is an honourable statesman whose excellent academic and professional credentials are beyond reproach,” the group stated in a release issued on Tuesday, September 17, 2013.

The release described as “crude” and “appalling” calls by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its agents for Dr Afari-Gyan's resignation.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is our position that the Chairman of the Electoral Commission should be allowed to continue doing his good works, and the good people of this country should not allow anybody or any group of persons with selfish and parochial interests to tarnish the hard won reputation of Dr Afari-Gyan and the EC.”

No praise for Nana Addo

The Forum said it found it alarming for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the First Petitioner in the “unnecessary presidential election petition case” to be hailed as a “statesman” after he accepted the verdict.

“We are, however, unable in light of what has happened in this country since 2008 to agree with the current plaudits being showered on Nana Akufo-Addo as it is completely undeserved,” the statement said.

“Having failed to yield to the will of Ghanaians on two occasions (2008 and 2012) after they had voted for the Late President Mills and President Mahama respectively, it is inexplicable that he will be singled out for praise,” it added.

The group advised Ghanaians not to be “whitewashed” into believing that “by going to court Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP have helped deepen our democracy”.

“We also fail to see how anyone who moves to disenfranchise almost five million Ghanaians and deprive them of their constitutional right to vote when those Ghanaians have not broken any electoral law can be said to have helped deepen democracy.”