Ghanaian public servants don’t know how to resign – Prof Gyampo

Professor Ransford Gyampo, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for European Studies of the University of Ghana has said it is not common for a Ghanaian public servant to resign. He was reacting to calls by Ghanaians and groups for the newly appointed Electoral Commission board members to resign.

According to the respected academic, asking a Ghanaian public servant to resign is a futile mission. He said unless one is pushed so hard to the limits, it is not normal for them to resign based on the culture of the Ghanaian public servant.

Speaking to Citi News, he said, “If you call for the resignation of a typical Ghanaian public servant, you will merely be romancing a spoon because the culture of resignation is not ingrained in our psyche unless one is pushed to resign”.

However, he said the independence of the Electoral Commission will now be doubted and people will view every action of the commission with the wrong lens. That, he said will prompt people always to try to be defensive of their interests even if what the commission is doing is for the general good.

“People will look at the legitimacy and independence of the commission with some trepidation. And when that happens, they are pushed with aggression and defence at all times and see everything that the commission does as wrong even when the Commission means well. We cannot allow this to go on in perpetuity. The EC itself requires institutional peace to be able to carry out its activities else election management will suffer,” he noted.

Background

President Akufo-Addo in March appointed two new members to join the Electoral Commission. Dr Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani were appointed by the President to join the board of the commission but their appointment has been met with public outcry.

Ghanaians have accused the president of appointing members of the New Patriotic Party onto the board. According to reports, Dr Peter Appiahene is the patron of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON), a network of tertiary students who belong to the NPP.

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, CODEO said in a press conference on Wednesday, “We are painfully aware that voluntary and constitutionally grounded revocation of these unfortunate and democratically problematic EC appointments by the President is extremely unlikely.

“However, nothing stops the affected appointees, namely Dr Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Tijani from voluntarily and honourably resigning from the EC.”