The Supreme Court will Thursday morning hear a writ asking it to rule on the constitutional provision that grants the President the power to nominate the chairman of the Electoral Commission.

The writ filled by broadcast Journalist with Citi FM, Richard Sky wants the Supreme Court to rule that the Council of State has the ultimate responsibility of appointing Chairman of the Electoral Commission.

Lawyer for the plaintiff, Alexander Afenyo Markins, in the writ says upon true and proper interpretation of article 70(2) of the 1992 constitution together with article 91(4), it is the Council of State that has the constitutional mandate to initiate the process of appointing the chairman, the deputies and commissioners of the electoral commission and such advice on a suitable candidate to be appointed becomes binding on the President.

The ruling by the nine Supreme Court Justices should rouse significant public interest considering that the current Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, retires this month.

Alexander Afenyo Markins has told Joy News he is ready to argue his case before the Court.

Possible successors of Afari Gyan

Meanwhile, four personalities have been chalked down as potential successors to Chairman of Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan who retires in June.

Executive Director of governance think-tank IDEG Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, Deputy Chairman of Electoral Commission Amadu Sulley, Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Development Professor Emmanuel Gyimah Boadi  and chairman of the World Cup Commission Justice Senyo Dzamefe are all names in the running for the democratic arbiter in Ghana.

The United States 2015 “Martin Luther King Jr Award for Peace and Social Justice” conferred on Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey,is the latest testament to his contribution to governance issues in Ghana.

Dr Akwetey left academia in Canada to form IDEG in 2000 as an independent, not-for-profit policy research and advocacy organization which has grown to become a notable voice of reason in public discourse on governance issues.

Professor Gyimah Boadi is co-director of the Afrobarometer, a survey project tracking public opinion on democratic and economic reforms in 18 African countries. Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi is also a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Legon.

He served as advisor on the former German President Horst Köhler’s “Partnership with Africa Project”.

A fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is also a member of the Technical Committee and Advisory Council of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation (London).

A gem of knowledge and research sought after across many university and policy institutes, he is a former visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the National Endowment for Democracy.

The two academicians will be squaring it out with deputy Electoral Commissioner Dr. Amadu Sulley who has risen through the ranks of the electoral commission from  Brong Ahafo regional director to deputy Chairman in 2012.

Mr. Amadu Sulley, until his appointment was the Director of Research Monitoring and Evaluation of the EC.

Justice Senyo Dzamefe became a popular name in media circles after he was appointed chairman of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry in 2014.

He was tasked to help Ghanaians understand how a promising Black Stars team crashed out of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil in a shambolic and disgraceful manner.

Firm but jovial when he needed to calm tensions, the judge was on national television for a month as top officials in football circles gave testimony at the Commission.