Chief Justice Takes Steps To Remove Newly Appointed EC Chair From Office

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo has empanelled a committee to inquire into the plethora of allegations levelled against the Electoral Commission( EC)

A report by Daily Guide Newspaper, indicates that there are sufficient grounds for impeachment of the EC officers involved, who are allegedly at loggerheads, thereby jeopardizing the operation of the commission.

The five-member committee would be mandated to investigate the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, together with her two deputies – Georgina Opoku-Amankwah, who is in charge of Corporate Services and Amadu Sulley, in charge of Operations. This is in accordance with the dictates of  Article 146 of the 1992 constitution.

The committee is to be presided over by a Supreme Court Judge. The other members will be two other Court of Appeal judges (male and female), and two other members nominated by the Council of State (female and male).

The decision to form the committee comes after two separate petitions demanding the removal of the EC Boss were sent to the president.

Reports indicated that at least 15 allegations have been leveled against Mrs. Osei in the second petition. Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election.

The earlier petition from unnamed EC staff, who are being represented by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, accused Mrs. Osei of funneling of GH¢3.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, the expenditure of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorised her to use only $7.5 million among others.

Mrs. Osei in a response also accused her deputy Chairpersons of the Commission of arrogance and illegally signing contracts worth over GHC 40 million without her approval.

“It is worth pointing out, that while the Chairperson is persistently accused of arrogance and taking unilateral decisions, there is ample evidence of extreme arrogance, ineptitude and blatant breaches of the law by the deputy Chairpersons.

“The Deputy Chairperson F/A has signed contracts worth over GHS40m without knowledge and authorization of the Chairperson between July-September 2015,” she said.

Source: Starrfmonline