By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
December 14, 2017
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)
has gone haywire following the activation of the processes that could lead to
the impeachment of Charlotte Osei, chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC)
and her two deputies.
The NDC has suddenly risen to the defence of the EC
boss, at the expense of her two deputies, who were roped into the EC’s alleged
scandal by Mrs Charlotte Osei.
The three top officials of the EC are facing a probe
committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, following petitions of
wrongdoing filed against them.
While Charlotte Osei’s petition was initiated by
some workers of the commission, the embattled EC chairperson is leading the
charge of wrongdoing against her two deputies - Amadu Sulley and Georgina
Opoku-Amankwa – in-charge of Operation and Corporate Service respectively.
Interestingly, the NDC has pitched camp with Charlotte
against the two other deputies who were all appointed by John Mahama’s
administration.
Mrs Charlotte Osei, according to DAILY
GUIDE sources, had never had good working relations with the two
deputies since she took office in 2015.
Mr Amadu Sulley, according to sources, was even
placed on national security radar because the Mahama administration was
informed that he was dealing with the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP)
particularly, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
In what looks like the NDC has more to lose should
the EC chairperson be impeached, some of its key elements are even putting
their lives on the line to fight for her, saying the whole action is being
pushed by the New Patriotic Party government.
There is currently a massive campaign in the media,
particularly on social media, by NDC activists in support of the EC chairperson.
Some critics of the opposition party have said the
NDC’s posture is threatening the work of the committee investigating Charlotte
Osei, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku-Amankwa.
Members of the minority NDC in parliament, led by
Haruna Iddrisu, are falling over each other in their rabid defence of Charlotte
Osei.
An NDC lawyer, Abraham Amaliba, has even gone to the
absurd level, threatening war if Mrs. Osei is removed from office.
He said on Accra
FM on Tuesday “…What has the woman done? She has declared election results
in your favour and so what again do they want from her that they are using the
process to harass her?” he quizzed, adding, “Where are the CDDs? Where are the
OccupyGhanas? If it were to be the NDC government all these people would be
speaking by now. Where is Emile Short? Where is Professor Martey? This country
will burn and we will see where all of us will be and so they should continue
doing it.”
On the same Tuesday on Peace FM, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, a vice chairperson of the opposition
party and head of NDC election committee, sent a strong warning to President
Akufo-Addo not to ‘orchestrate’ a plot to remove the EC boss.
“For the first time, people wanted to throw the
supreme law of the land – the constitution - aside because of some parochial
interest . . . She’s one of the most vilified public officers ever seen in this
country in recent times, but I doff my hat for her that she stood very tall in
all this and did her work effectively.
As we say, the end justifies the means;
she’s been able to work for a successful election,” Mr. Ofosu Ampofo said.
“There’s no
doubt in my mind that what is happening now is more political than anything.
And I want to caution President Nana Akufo-Addo to be very, very careful
because running a nation is not like leading NPP...My caution is that the Chief
Justice, the Presidency, must be careful the way they handle this matter.
".. . I am cautioning the President because
this matter is political and I want to say it’s political. And there is lack of
transparency in the way this is being handled and it is being handled to
achieve a certain end. We’re also in politics. We know the sort of conspiracies
that are going round. And I’m cautioning that they must be very, very careful
because some people are alleged to have even met and decided the outcome of
this matter before the matter even goes there . . . Let us be careful that we
do not politically manipulate this to achieve some certain ends...,” he added.
In the ensuing heat, Martin Agyei-Mensah Korsah, a
deputy minister of Regional Reorganisation and Development, who was the NPP’s
Director of Election during the 2016 general elections, said the outcome of the
impeachment process should bring positive reforms.
“Whether the three are impeached or they are
cleared, this should lead to a better and reformed commission handling national
tasks without fear or favour,” Mr Agyei-Mensah Korsah, who had a very long
working relationship with the three commissioners, said on Oman FM in Accra yesterday.
The NDC’s critics have said that the opposition
party should not overlook the scandalous press war that ensued between Ms. Osei
on one hand and her deputies on the other, when each directly accused the other
of being corrupt or said to have abused their respective offices.
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