As required by theconstitution of Ghana, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has referred a petition calling on him to invoke Article 146(3) of the Constitution to impeach the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei to the Chief Justice, Sophia Akufo, according to the president’s press secretary, Eugene Arhin.
A press statement he signed yesterday indicated that the President’s action is in line with the directives spelt out in Article 146 (3) of the 1992 Constitution.
“Whilst the President was out of the country, the office of the President received a petition, initially undated and unsigned, against the Chairperson of the EC. Subsequently, counsel, Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, Esq., by letter dated July 20, 2017, wrote to the office of the President setting out the names of the petitioners and the date of the petition,” the statement said.
The country was shocked last week Thursday with a 27-point petition pregnant with allegations of misconduct against the EC Chair.
The petition which was to trigger the full impeachment processes under Article 146 of the Constitution, partly described the EC Chair as incompetent, corrupt, fraudulent and autocratic.
The petition, signed by a private legal practitioner, Maxwell Opoku Agyemang stated among others, that the Chairperson of the Commission in many instances breached the Procurement Law in procuring goods and services for the Commission.
In what the petitioners claim to be a one-woman show, Charlotte Osei was alleged to have unilaterally and without recourse to procurement procedures engaged the services of lawyers, Sory@Law who represented the Commission in the pre-election legal banter with aggrieved parties and disqualified flag bearers.
She was also alleged to have abrogated an existing contract with Super Tech Ltd. (STL), unilaterally renegotiating and re-awarding the contract at the new sum of $21,999,592 without serious regard to the tender processes.
“The chairperson, Mrs Osei unilaterally awarded a contract of about $25,000 to a South African company Quazar Limited to change and re-develop the Commission’s Logo under the guise of rebranding without going through tender contrary to the Public Procurement Act,” point 26 of the petition read.
Events took on a new twist when Mrs Osei’s responses to the claims against her triggered further allegations against her by two of her deputies, Georgina Opoku Amankwaa and Amadu Sulley.
In a related development, Mrs Osei has proceeded to court with a suit against the Mr Opoku Agyemang.
She is seeking damages from the court against Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, who on behalf of the unnamed workers of the Electoral Commission petitioned the president to remove the Chairperson of the Commission over stated misconduct.
In a suit filed on Monday, July 24, 2017, the lawyer for the EC Chair, Thaddeus Sory, said the claims contained in the petition which was publicized both in the social and traditional media were false and defamatory.
Meanwhile, the EC is meeting Parliamentarians to respond to questions about the heated internal wrangling at the elections management body.
She is also expected to brief the Legislators on how funds generated from the replacement of voter ID cards and the sale of media accreditation cards ahead of 2016 elections were spent.
Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, told Joy News the leadership of House are likely to hold a separate meeting with the EC Chairperson in a bid to find the cause of raging animosity between herself and two of her deputies
