Deputy General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described Electoral Commission (EC) Chair, Charlotte Osei, as a shadow of her predecessor, Afari Gyan.

Nana Obiri Boahen says Mrs Osei’s handling of the controversial elections Steering Committee for the November polls leaves him without a doubt that “Dr Afari Gyan was better.”

Dr. Afari Gyan retired last year, after 22 years at post as EC Chairman.

The NPP Deputy General Secretary was reacting to announcement by the EC last Saturday that the 18-member Steering Committee had not been suspended.

Nana Obiri Boahen

Political parties after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting a day before the announcement had thought otherwise.

The parties had indicated at the IPAC meeting that in the absence of a clear mandate for the Steering Committee and a transparent framework for selecting the committee members, it be suspended.

The EC is reported to have said it was going back to the 'drawing board', a reply the political parties had understood to mean the Committee had been suspended until further notice.

Obiri Boahen told Accra-based Citi FM Monday the back and forth by the EC regarding the contentious Committee and previous decisions by the national elections coordinator is unfortunate.

The EC had earlier this year turned down a request by the NPP for a new electoral roll.

Obiri Boahen thinks the EC’s needless complication of issues about the Steering Committee can partly be blamed on the mentality of some of its staff.

“As the Electoral Commission of Ghana, if you consider the utterances and comments of some of the members, you will know that they have outlived their usefulness,” he said.