Kwesi Pratt Jnr hit back at critics who believe the chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) has done nothing as far as elections in the country is concerned.

 

“This bashing of Afari Gyan who is also a citizen of this country is nothing but a reckless attempt to instigate insurgency,” the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper said.

 

Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan has taken his terminal leave prior to retirement after serving for almost two decades as EC boss.

 

So far, a number of names have made the rounds as his successor, including Deputy Commissioner Amadu Sulley and Dr. Stephen Akwettey of the Institute of Democratic Governance.

 

Article 70, clause 2 of the 1992 Constitution enjoins the President to appoint the EC Chairman and Deputies as well as other members of the Commission on the advice of the Council of State.

 

But Mr. Pratt believes that inasmuch as the EC is a human being who can err, he has also served the country very well, thus, describing criticisms against him as untoward.

 

Though Dr. Afari has been lashed for being the cause of the 2012 elections that was challenged in the Supreme Court, the Managing Editor on Accra-based Radio Gold Saturday quizzed why the New Patriotic Party (NPP) refused to challenge the results of the 2000 elections which saw former President Kufuor as the president.

 

“It was under the mandate of the same Afari Gyan who pronounced Mr. Agyekum Kufuor as the president when they won in 2000 so why are you now recognizing that he has erred?

 

He continued that “Their (NPP) problem with Afari Gyan I think actually arose only after the 2012 elections. The election commissioner will never declare results without party representatives. All political party representatives are around and approved before every result would be announced and so why not bash yourselves but rather the EC boss” he asked.