The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Emmanuel Agyarko, has likened the posture of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, to a headmistress of a primary school.
He made the comment while sharing his thoughts on the disqualification of 12 presidential aspirants on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue.
According to Mr. Agyarko, the EC overstepped its boundaries when it disqualified the aspirants due to errors on their nomination forms.
Mr. Agyarko believes the EC in a bid to be seen as an enforcer rather than a facilitator, has appeared too confrontational in recent times, and is taking unreasonable decisions that might subsequently dent the image of the Commission.
Citing the Abu Ramadan case and the Commission’s decision to spend over GHC 300 million on the conduct of District Assembly Elections, Mr. Agyarko intimated that, the EC’s decisions do not leave what he calls a ‘good impression for a public agency.’
“The Commission has appeared as being too confrontational. There are three or four cases that have either been taken to court or gone to court themselves and all of them have turned against them. There was this thing with District Assembly elections, it was not 21 days yet, the CI had not matured and they decided to go ahead. You begin to wonder, how will a public agency do this in the process. This country lost over 300 million cedis in the process.Then there was this Abu Ramadan thing. It was so strange that they will go court, the apex court made a pronouncement two years ago; but their interpretation of the matter was so weird, It doesn’t leave a very good impression for a public agency”
“I would want to liken it to a regulator of a sort. My understanding of a public service, specifically when you have to determine things like this is that; you must be a facilitator rather than an enforcer. It appears to me, that the Electoral Commission wants to be seen as an enforcer. If you are a regulator, the essence is to bring people into compliance; but the posture they have taken is that, we will deal with you, we will not permit you. I have heard the Chairperson say that ‘…You want to be a President of this country and you cannot even fill a form.I think the Electoral Commission is overstepping its bounds.''
Mr. Agyarko therefore advised the EC to “create space for democratic expression and help participants to come into compliance rather than acting as a headmistress of a primary school.”
Source: Citifmonline.com
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Hypocrite & Derailed, I think you misunderstood Mr. Agyarko. What he meant was that a headmistress/headmaster is an enforcer (of the rules), however, the EC ought to be a facilitator NOT an enforcer like the Headmistress. He is talking about roles and his statement is not derogatory at all.
MR. AGYARKO YOU MEAN TO SAY PRIMARY SCHOOL HEAD MISTRESSES AND HEAD MASTERS ARE GOOD ENOUGH YEAH. THIS SHOW YOU LOOK DOWN ON THESE HARD WORKING SERVANTS AS TRUSH AND THAT THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. YOU FORGET THIS ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO TEACH MOST OF US TO GET TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY. DON'T YOU KNOW THEY ARE TEACHING KIDS. GOOD MORNING
Mr. Agyarko, I am an ardent supporter but pls, this comparison is "an off-side" I didn't listen to get the context right, but pls the teaching profession is a noble one. To compare charlotte to a headmistress is not not not!
The president and his party, in league with some so called senior journalists have made that Charlotte woman feel bigger than herself. All of a sudden, Charlotte thinks she owns the electoral commission and so talks as if she's farting. She will regret taking up this job and allowing herself to be used sooner than later. In all of this, we have the so called peace council, council of state and what have you. They've all been silenced after collecting bribe from the president. This country is being decimated.