By William
Yaw Owusu
Tuesday May
22, 2018
The committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to investigate
Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies for
abuse of office and conflict of interest has reportedly completed its work.
DAILY
GUIDE understands that all in-camera proceedings
reportedly ended last Thursday, May 19, when the respondents in the matter
officially closed their cases.
According to sources, both the petitioners and the three EC bosses
have been given June 8 or so to file their addresses.
After filing the addresses, the five-member committee, presided over
by Justice A.A. Benin of the Supreme Court, is expected to announce a date on
which it will release its recommendations.
Among the last persons who appeared before the committee were Public
Procurement Authority (PPA) boss and Joy
Fm reporter, who also submitted a witness statement in support of the EC
boss.
Mrs. Osei’s two deputies - Amadu Sulley, in-charge of Operations and
Georgina Opoku-Amankwa, for Corporate Services – the latter currently being on
interdiction, are also being probed by the committee.
Official
Announcement
On December 19, last year, Chief Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo,
officially confirmed that she had set up a committee to investigate allegations
brought against the three top EC officials.
A statement by Judicial Secretary Justice Alex B. Poku-Acheampong
indicated that proceedings of the five-member committee were going to be held
in camera.
“The public is hereby informed that Her Ladyship the Chief Justice,
Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo, in accordance with Article 46 of the 1992
Constitution, has set up a five-member committee to investigate allegations
brought against the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte
Osei, and her two deputies, Mr. Amadu Sulley and Mrs. Georgina Opoku-Amankwa,”
the statement posited.
“The committee, which will sit in camera, in line with normal
practice, consists of three Justices of the Superior Court appointed by the
Judicial Council and two other persons appointed by the Chief Justice, on the
advice of the Council of State. The committee is chaired by a Justice of the
Supreme Court,” the statement pointed out.
According to the statement, “The committee was established after the
Chief Justice had determined that there was a prima facie case against the
three officials of the Electoral Commission.”
Initial
Petition
The whole action against the EC gurus was triggered by a petition
sent to the presidency by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, who was acting on
behalf of some unnamed staff of the commission, seeking to trigger impeachment
proceedings against Charlotte Osei under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.
A litany of allegations were leveled against Mrs. Osei, including
spending GH¢3.9 million to partition an office, receipt of a Toyota Land
Cruiser from John Mahama’s government, spending about $14 million when the
Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million, as
well as attending Cabinet meetings under President John Mahama’s
administration, among others.
Fight Back
As a result, Mrs Charlotte Osei, through her lawyers, 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 Mrs.
Opoku-Amankwa of signing contracts worth over $40 million without her knowledge
and authorization between May and September 2015.
Illegal
Transfer
She also turned her attention to Amadu Sulley and said apart from
transferring votes illegally in the run-up to the 2016 general election, he
(Sulley) also pocketed huge amounts of cash from some political parties.
“The Deputy Chairperson Operations collected funds above GH¢6m in
cash from some political parties for the organization of party primaries
without recourse to the structures of the Commission, and without the
involvement of the finance department of the Commission,” Mrs Osei said.
Counter
Petition
The fight became nastier when other unknown persons who appeared to
be on the side of Mrs. Osei, sent a counter petition to the president to
investigate her two deputies also for corruption and abuse of office.
Emmanuel Senyo, a non-EC staff, who had filed the counter petition
against Mr Amadu Sulley and Mrs. Opoku-Amankwa, is believed to be a relative of
James Kofi Afedo, the Communication Consultant employed by Mrs Charlotte Osei
to work for the EC.
Accusations and counter accusations ensued between the EC boss on
one hand and her two deputies on the other.
Opoku-Amankwa’s
Response
Mrs. Opoku-Amankwa, for instance, said in a 25-point response to the
EC chairperson’s statement that, “the chairperson’s claim that there was a
deliberate strategy to frustrate her work and tenure is palpably false and a
figment of her own imagination.”
The deputy commissioner appeared to suggest that it was rather Mrs.
Osei who was the problem at the commission and not her or Amadu Sulley.
“Her managerial deficiencies, coupled with her poor human relations
and lack of appreciation for team work, are too manifest to escape public
judgement,” she said.
Amadu Sulley’s
Reaction
Amadu Sulley did not take issues lightly when he was accused of
pocketing GH¢6 million from some political parties.
“I don’t understand the motive of the chair to come out now to make
this unfortunate allegation against me and the Deputy Chair,
Finance/Administration,” he added.
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