A political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof Randsford Gyampo has described President Akufo-Addo as the worst President in promoting the sanctity of the independence of the Electoral Commission.

His comment comes after the President issued a directive asking for the CVs of all directors of the electoral management body.

Reacting to this move, Prof Gyampo rhetorically asked the President in an open letter “Why do you want to do this to an Independent Commission? It appears under your tenure, you are doing everything you can to decimate the independence of all independent institutions, but to what end”?

“The history of Ghana’s Fourth Republic show that you are currently the worse President in promoting the sanctity of the independence of the Electoral Commission,” he added.

According to Prof Gyampo, there aren’t courageous people around the President to tell him to back off his attempts at annexing the Electoral Commission.

Citing an example during President John Agyekum Kufuor’s presidency, Prof Gyampo said “back in the days, Dan Botwe as General Secretary of the NPP could boldly tell President Kufuor in the face to back off his attempt to usurp the procurement powers of the Electoral Commission and the President had no choice than to listen.”

The lecturer called on President Akufo-Addo to leave office and leave the sanctity of Ghana’s independent institutions intact.

“This is not a practice worth emulating or repeating, Sir. This demand is unnecessary and its optics for the quest to deal with the independence deficit of the Electoral Commission are bad,” Prof Gyampo noted.

He, however, cautioned the Electoral Commission not be seen to be swallowing everything thrown to them by the President hook, line and sinker.

As an independent Commission, he indicated that the EC is backed by law to resist every attempt at subjugating the Commission under the Executive President.