Afari Gyan’s successor must restore confidence in EC – Akufo Addo
The Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged President Mahama to appoint a successor to Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan who would restore confidence in the Electoral Commission.
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The Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Afari Gyan is set for retirement in June after heading the EC for 22 years.
Various political parties in Ghana have urged the President to widely consult to make the right choice.
They have called for a person with integrity and impeccable record of achievement in the public service to be appointed.
Several names including Executive Director of governance think-tank IDEG Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, Deputy Chairman of Electoral Commission Amadu Sulley, Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Development Professor Emmanuel Gyimah Boadi and chairman of the World Cup Commission Justice Senyo Dzamefe are all names that have popped up in the running for the democratic arbiter in Ghana.
Speaking In an interview Wednesday night on Accra based radio station, Starr FM on the programme, Starr Chat with Bola Ray, the former Attorney General said majority of Ghanaians have lost confidence and hope in the work of the Electoral Commission and it is necessary Mahama appoints someone who can restore that confidence.
"There is a need for a wider consultation in the appointment of the new EC boss,” Nana Addo said, adding “we need someone who will restore confidence in the EC”.
"I didn't think Osafo Maafo's comment was tribalistic" - Akufo Addo
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Nana Akufo-Addo has said he did not “understand” the recent controversial comments made by former finance minister Yaw Osafo Maafo to be tribalistic.
“I didn't understand Osafo Maafo's comments to be tribalistic,” he told Bola Ray on Starr Chat Wednesday.
The founding member of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has come under fire in recent times for allegedly bemoaning, in a recent meeting with Eastern regional Council of elders of the party that non-Akans from regions which do not possess the resources of the country are rather in charge of the governance of the state.
“We should protect ourselves, we should protect our income. No one who is the source of income, the source of revenue, the source of resources; allows another person without those resources the chance [to rule over them].
“It’s never done anywhere in the world. In the world over, it is the group with the most resources that rules and not the other way around,” the voice said.
Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor who also spoke on the programme via telephone said he believes Ghanaians will not regret voting for Akufo-Addo as president come the 2016 general elections.
Kufuor said having worked with the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) during his two-term tenure in office, he has no doubt the 71-year-old is cut for the job due to his abilities.
Kufuor, who is affectionately called ‘The Gentle Giant’, described Nana Addo as “a man of many parts and great pedigree”
According to Kufuor, his former Minister of Justice and Attorney General is not only a “sports guy” but a “hard worker and a great organiser [and] always in the fore front and taking risk in the party.”
Kufuor said the ex-Foreign Affairs Minister “is always carrying a notebook and taking notes and listened carefully before interjecting and contributing… and he is an industrious person.”
He added: “I’m urging him to move forward; rallying the party together and showing commitment in serving the country when he gets there [presidency] and should become president of the whole of Ghana… Ghana first before party.”
Nana replied: “I’m inspired and will do my best and won’t disappoint you.”
“I trust you,” Kufuor retorted from his Paris base.
"There was a brief period where I bought into Kwame Nkrumah's ideas".
He, however, added that he has long cherished a society where people can have different opinions on issues and still co-exist without tension.
The NPP, the party on whose ticket the former attorney general has twice contested the presidency, has a long standing disagreement with Dr Nkrumah’s party- the Convention People’s Party (CPP) - over who played the lead role towards the attainment of Ghana’s independence.
The NPP which is an offshoot of the United Party (UP) ideologically, tilts towards the Capitalist form of governance whiles Nkrumah's CPP was founded on the principles of Karl Max’s Socialism.
Nana Akufo-Addo stated highlife musician Daddy Lumba (DL) is “high” on his list of “favourite” musicians.
He said DL’s recent hit song ‘Ye Nea Woho Beto Wo’, also called #YentieObiaa is one of his most favourite songs composed by the celebrated entertainer.
‘Ye Nea Woho Beto Wo’ was adjudged Highlife Song of the Year at the recently held Vodafone Ghana Music Awards ceremony. It also won Lumba Highlife Artiste of the Year given the attention it has received, becoming a street anthem within a short period of its release.
The president, John Dramani Mahama, was seen dancing with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace in a secretly recorded video that went viral late last year.
He is also on record to have requested for the copyright to the track, hinting it might be used in 2016 as one of the NDC’s campaign songs.
But Nana Addo told Bola Ray he enjoys the song only for its aesthetic appeal and “not for the purposes for which other people use it. As for me, I listen to everyone.”
Credit: Starrfmonline.com