Opinions of Saturday, 15 April 2023

Columnist: Lawrence Appiah-Osei

I want to be the next Electoral Commissioner

The NDC flag The NDC flag

As soon as people read the above heading, they will think I am crazy. They will say, how can I become the Electoral Commissioner when everybody knows I am an NDC member who speak for the NDC.

Those people who will make this argument don’t see anything wrong when Nana Addo appointed Dr. Peter Appiahene to be a commissioner at the Electoral Commission. It is okay with them if Nana Addo destroys the institutions we have but they will have the greatest worries if someone else did it.

Sammy Awuku, the Director General of the National Lottery Agency (NLA) and a former National Organizer of the NPP, said on Asempa FM last week that, they don’t allow members of the Lottery Agency to stake lotto because if they stake and win big, the public perception of the agency will change. In other words, people might think the NLA is not fair to the general public and their interests in staking lotto will fade away.

So, if Sammy Awuku, a young adult, knows this, how come 80-year-old Nana Addo, a celebrated Lawyer, doesn’t know that? Or is it because he is a lawyer without a certificate?

Nana B, the NPP National Organizer is on radio saying Dr. Appiahene is not an NPP member but goes on radio and TV to speak in favor of government policies. Most people want to leave Ghana because they say, the way NPP mount their defense on issues make them look like fools. It is like they don’t have brains to think, so the NPP communicators are thinking for them.

What surprises most is the quietness of the Christian Council, the Catholic Bishops Council, the Peace Council and the rest of the councils on the appointment of Dr. Appiahene, a well-known NPP communicator, to the Electoral Commission. Is there something they know about the appointment, that the general public don’t know?

Has the Peace Council thought of the reaction of Ghanaians if Jean Mensah, Bossman Asare and Peter Appiahene put out the Presidential results in error? Would the people accept it as a genuine error? It amazes me why they have allowed Nana Addo to do this to the country.

I know my good friend, Eric Adjei, the NDC’s Bono deputy communications officer has said on several occasions that he and Dr. Appiahene had been the only two panelists on several radio stations where he spoke for NDC and Dr. Appiahene had spoken for the NPP. Apart from that, there are several videos and pictures where Dr. Appiahene had featured prominently in NPP events. Are the Peace Council people saying they have not seen such videos and pictures?

Let any idiot say I am politically exposed if I am appointed the Electoral Commissioner in 2025. Ghana belongs to all of us.

Mahama reba.