President Akufo-Addo has removed the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa from office.

This comes after a committee set up by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, pursuant to Article 146(4) of the Constitution, to investigate separate complaints brought against the three persons by Ghanaian citizens, recommended their removal from office.

The Committee recommended their removal on the basis of stated misbehavior and incompetence, pursuant to Article 146 (1) of the Constitution.

A statement by a Minister for Information, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid on Thursday, said the President had directed the three persons to hand over their respective schedules to the Director of Human Resources at the Commission, while thanking them for their service to the country.

“The provisions of Article 146 (9) of the Constitution require the President of the Republic to act in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee ” the statement said.

Background

Back in December 2017, the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei and her two Deputies, Amadu Sulley (in charge of Operations) and Georgina Amankwa (in charge of Corporate Services) met with the Chief Justice over a petition filed against the Commission.

A five-member committee was subsequently set up by the Chief Justice to investigate the alleged corruption.

Some staff of the EC petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo in July 2017, to remove Mrs. Osei from office over allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance as well as abuse of office.

Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election.

The petition against her alleged among others the funneling of GHc3.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, and the use of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million.

Mrs. Osei also responded by making allegations of corruption against her deputies.

She claimed she was only being hounded because she sought to introduce systems to curb mismanagement.

Charlotte Osei accused a deputy Chairperson of the Commission of illegally signing contracts worth over GHc 40 million without her approval.

Another individual, by name Douglas Seidu, also petitioned the President in August 2017 seeking the removal of the EC Chair, on grounds of “financial misconduct, incompetence, conflict of interest and breaches of the public procurement processes.

President Akufo-Addo in accordance with the constitution forwarded both petitions to the Chief Justice to look into the matter.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citinewsroom.com/Ghana