A former Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has disagreed with a proposal to make the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) a statutory body with its functions backed by law.
According to Dr. Afari-Gyan, changing IPAC from a mechanism through which political parties offered suggestions to the EC to a body whose functions were backed by law would interfere with the independence of the EC, as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
Dr. Afari-Gyan, who was instrumental in the formation of the IPAC, said: “The Constitution clearly says that in doing its work, the EC should not take instructions from any person or body external to the commission. The IPAC is such a body. Accordingly, IPAC decisions cannot be binding on the EC. If they were, it would, in effect, amount to nothing less than meddling with the independence of the commission.”
His views were contained in a statement he sent to the Daily Graphic detailing his views on some reforms in Ghana’s electoral system proposed by the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Background
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in its proposal submitted to EC in August this year, suggested among many others that “IPAC should be backed by legislation: The opposition NDC wants the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to have legal backing through an amendment to the Electoral Commission Act, 1993, Act 451. They want the amendment to spell out the composition of IPAC and its functions, a proposal said to have first been made by the EC’s own Electoral Reforms Committee in 2015, adopted by the IPAC and accepted by the EC”.
