Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday,
August 30, 2017
The woes of
embattled Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, appear not
to be over, as a fresh petition has been filed against her.
The petition was
filed on August 18 at the presidency seeking impeachment proceedings to be
initiated against her over alleged breach of public procurement practices and
provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663), as well as gross
financial mismanagement.
A source said the petitioner
is not a staff of the EC but a concerned Ghanaian, who wants the conduct of
Mrs. Osei to be investigated as EC boss on grounds of stated misbehaviour and
incompetence.
At least there are
15 allegations leveled against the EC boss in the fresh petition, and the
petitioner is said to have listed all the offences allegedly committed by Charlotte
Osei, who is already enmeshed in a series of controversies.
Some of the
allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the
run-up to the 2016 general election.
President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reportedly forwarded the petition to the Chief Justice,
Sophia Akuffo, pursuant to Article 146 (3) of the 1992 Constitution.
Initial Petition
Already, there is an
initial petition from unnamed EC staff who are being led by Lawyer Maxwell
Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei, which is pending before the Chief Justice.
A litany of
allegations have been leveled against her, including spending GH¢3.9 million to
partition an office, receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the erstwhile Mahama-led
NDC government, spending about $14 million when the Public Procurement
Authority (PPA) had authorized her to use only $7.5 million, as well as
attending Cabinet meetings during the tenure of President John Dramani Mahama,
among other issues.
Preliminary Investigations
As a result, preliminary
investigations into the purported abuse of power and corruption scandal
commenced recently.
The Chief Justice
reportedly wrote officially to the embattled EC boss to respond to the damning
allegations that could lead to her impeachment.
The two other
commissioners, Amadu Sulley, in-charge of Operations and Georgina Opoku-Amankwa,
in-charge of Corporate Services - who have running battles with Mrs. Osei - were
equally being written to for the provision of answers to counter petitions
against them, seeking their respective removals from office. That petition was
said to have been initiated by someone who is said to be very close to
Charlotte Osei.
Legal experts say
that if a prima facie case is
established against any of the commissioners during the preliminary
investigations, the Chief Justice, per the rules, will then establish a
committee to fully investigate the issues and a report submitted to the president
- who forwarded the petitions for action.
Fight Back
Mrs Charlotte Osei,
through her lawyers - Sory@Law - who are also the commission’s external
solicitors, hit back at her accusers, insisting that she had not been corrupt
or abused her office and rather accused her two deputies of deliberately
scheming to frustrate her stay in office.
The chairperson, in
her initial response, openly accused Ms. Opoku-Amankwaa of signing contracts
worth over $40 million without her knowledge and authorization between May and September
2015.
Illegal Transfer
She also turned her
attention on Mr Amadu Sulley and said apart from transferring votes illegally
in the run-up to the 2016 general election, he (Sulley) also pocketed a huge
amount of money from some political parties.
Accusations and counter
accusations have since ensued between the EC boss and her two deputies, who are
fighting back strongly, trying to parry the chairperson’s allegations.
Legal Impediment
However, before the
formal preliminary investigations could commence, a private citizen, Ayamga
Yakubu Akoglo, had filed a writ at the Supreme Court, seeking to prevent the
Chief Justice from going ahead to investigate the EC boss.
The case is yet to
be determined, as the Supreme Court is currently on its annual legal vacation.
The plaintiff, who has
also cited the Attorney General in the suit, wants the court to declare the
action being initiated against the EC boss by the Judicial Council as
unconstitutional, void and of no effect.
He is claiming that
the issues raised in the petition against Charlotte Osei had nothing to do with
her core functions as prescribed under Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution and
as a result, did not warrant her removal per Article 46 (1) of the
Constitution, describing the petition as ‘defective.’
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