For much of the Akufo-Addo era, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of packing the Electoral Commission (EC) with people sympathetic to the ruling party. Now in power, the NDC faces the same charge. Within hours, critics said one of them was a known NDC operative.
On Monday, 12th October 2026, President John Dramani Mahama swore in Emelia Afi Agbenyo and Dr Joseph Kwaku Asamoah as Deputy Chairpersons of the EC. Within hours, critics said one of them was a known NDC operative.
In 2019, then NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia described Deputy EC Chair Dr Bossman Eric Asare as an “affiliate” of the NPP. He pointed to Dr Asare publicly canvassing for a “Yes” vote in that year’s referendum and argued that a referee could not take sides.
The sharpest dispute came in 2023, when President Akufo-Addo appointed Dr Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani to the EC. The NDC demanded their removal.
Dr Appiahene: The NDC said he had served on the NPP’s 2022 Bono Regional Election Committee and as the party’s Bono Regional D-Day Coordinator in the 2020 election.
The NDC took its protest to the Council of State, while NDC MP Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor went to the Supreme Court to challenge the appointments.
The EC dismissed the concerns at the time, saying the Constitution gave the President the power to appoint and that the Commission would work with any appointee.
The equaliser
With the NPP now raising similar objections to those it once brushed aside, critics say the score is level.
President Mahama urged the new deputies on Monday to work “fairly and impartially.” He insisted that the EC must not favour any political party, including the governing party.
But for many observers, the bigger worry is the pattern itself. Each government accuses the other of capturing the referee, then does what it criticised once it takes power.
For much of the Akufo-Addo era, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of packing the Electoral Commission (EC) with people sympathetic to the ruling party. Now in power, the NDC faces the same charge.
The NPP’s turn to cry foul
NPP figure Miracles Aboagye led the criticism, calling Mrs Agbenyo’s appointment “a shame.” He described her as “an open partisan political operative, who was and is a campaign team member of a political party.” He went further, calling her “a full-blown open NDC campaign team member and political operative.”
Aboagye asked whether the NDC had run out of qualified, neutral Ghanaians. He warned that the appointment could set a precedent for future governments to install party loyalists at the Commission.
Mrs Agbenyo works at the Ghana TVET Service and previously served as a commissioner at the National Development Planning Commission. She has not publicly responded to the claims.
No partisan claims have been reported against the second appointee, Dr Asamoah, a KNUST law lecturer and former EC Director of Finance.
