Chief Justice throws out EC and OSP petitions, shifting political ground
By Gifty Boateng
The Chief Justice’s summary dismissal of ten petitions seeking the removal of the Electoral Commission’s top leadership and the Special Prosecutor has reshaped Accra’s political calculations.
The ruling, handed down on 18 February, is being read not merely as a legal judgment but as a significant test of institutional independence under the new administration of President John Dramani Mahama.
For the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), which had strongly signalled its desire for a clean sweep at the Election Management Body, the decision is a major political setback. For the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), it is an unexpected lifeline. And for impartial observers, it offers rare evidence of the judiciary resisting executive pressure.
The petitions, filed last year by private citizens and civil society groups, alleged misconduct, incompetence, and procurement breaches against EC Chairperson Jean Mensa, her deputies Samuel Tettey and Dr Eric Bossman Asare, Commission member Dr Peter Appiahene, and Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng. The Chief Justice found no prima facie case to warrant the establishment of a tribunal.
Although the NDC was not a formal petitioner, party leaders—including Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia had been vocal in demanding the removal of the EC hierarchy. They argued that the Commission’s leadership was politically compromised, pointing to its handling of the 2024 elections and unresolved constituency results, most notably in Ablekuma North.
The party also revived grievances from 2020, including the disenfranchisement of voters in the SALL areas (Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, Likpe), as evidence of institutional failure.
Asiedu Nketia had openly called for a “reset” of the Commission, drawing parallels with the 2018 removal of former EC Chair Charlotte Osei under the previous NPP administration. The implication was clear: what was done to the NPP’s perceived adversaries could now be done to its allies.
THE KISSI AGYEBENG FACTOR
The case against Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng carried different political weight but no less intensity. Three petitions accused him of underperformance, citing a lack of high-profile prosecutions since his appointment nearly five years ago.
In January, parliamentary moves were initiated to dissolve the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) entirely, with Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga describing it as a waste of taxpayer money.
President Mahama intervened personally to halt the dissolution, arguing the move was premature. The Chief Justice’s ruling now spares him a difficult political choice between protecting an institution and satisfying a restive parliamentary caucus.
THE JUDICIARY’S SIGNAL
The most striking reaction came from Franklin Cudjoe, President of policy think-tank IMANI Africa. In a social media post, he hailed the ruling as evidence that “the Judiciary is now truly unshackled,” adding pointedly that such a decision “would never have happened under the previous scariest alternative.”
The comment underscores a broader narrative taking shape in Accra: that Mahama’s administration, for all its political ambitions, may be presiding over a more autonomous judiciary than its predecessor. Whether this reflects presidential restraint or judicial assertiveness remains an open question.
For the NPP, the ruling offers more than legal relief. With Dr Mahamudu Bawumia now installed as the party’s 2028 flagbearer, the decision removes the immediate threat of a reconstructed EC that might favour the incumbent administration.
The party, still smarting from its 2024 defeat, sees in the current Commission a known quantity one that, whatever its alleged flaws, is not perceived as hostile.
The EC leadership remains in place, at least for now. The Special Prosecutor’s office survives. But the underlying political tensions have not dissolved.
The NDC’s frustration with the electoral machinery remains raw, and the unresolved Ablekuma North results are a continuing embarrassment. Should by-elections or a new voter registration exercise test the Commission’s credibility, the petitions could resurface in another form.
For President Mahama, the ruling is a double-edged sword. It burnishes his administration’s democratic credentials but denies his party a prized political scalp. In the transactional world of Ghanaian politics, that is a trade-off not all his allies will readily accept.