Former Sissala East Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, has accused President John Dramani Mahama of hypocrisy over the recent appointment of new Deputy Chairpersons of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Speaking on GhOne TV’s GhToday morning show on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, Chinnia said Mahama, while in opposition, had “overly politicized,” “overly criticized,” and “overly condemned” previous EC appointments and even called for constitutional amendments.
He specifically recalled Mahama’s proposal that Article 43 of the 1992 Constitution be amended so that presidential appointees to the EC would be vetted by Parliament.
“You were here. You heard the opposition leader then, now President John Mahama. You heard him. He overly politicized it, he overly criticized it, he overly condemned it, and in fact, he actually called for reforms and amendments of our Constitution,” Chinnia stated.
“President Mahama today, opposition leader yesterday, proposed that Article 43 of Ghana’s Constitution should be amended so that when the President is making appointment to the Electoral Commission, the person being appointed should be vetted by the Parliament of Ghana. Now he’s in charge, he’s the President of Ghana. What he said was wrong yesterday, he’s repeating the same.”
Chinnia linked the criticism to the appointments of Emelia Afi Agbenyo and Dr Joseph Kwaku Asamoah as Deputy EC Chairpersons, sworn in by President Mahama on 12 October 2026.
He argued that the NDC, while in opposition, had rejected similar appointments on grounds of political affiliation, dismissing competence as the basis for selection.
“But yesterday, you same people, the same NDC opposition was that some people were politically affiliated and they didn’t deserve to be appointed to the Electoral Commission. You didn’t know that they were being appointed because they were competent to do the job, because they were qualified. I mean, the NDC criticized almost everything and almost all those things are eating them back,” he added.
He went further, suggesting that consistency demanded accountability.
“In fact, if we were a serious country and we are to ask the president on some of the statements that he made before becoming president and what he’s doing today, he should be resigning as president. Because what you said was wrong yesterday, you don’t come and repeat it and try to justify what happened yesterday.
“Because you said it was wrong, on the basis of that, I can say that on the basis of that, Ghanaians rejected the NDP and brought you, so that you make a difference,” he argued.
The comments add to ongoing debate surrounding the new EC deputies, particularly Agbenyo, whose past role as an NDC Governance Sector Spokesperson during the 2024 campaign has drawn accusations of partisanship from the opposition New Patriotic Party.
President Mahama has publicly charged the new officials to remain strictly neutral and apply the same standards to all parties, including his own government.
