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Charlotte Osei's dismissal: Akufo-Addo breaks silence

By Clement Edward Kumsah
Akufo-Addo
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President Akufo-Addo has stated that he had no choice but to act on the recommendations of the Committee set up by the Chief Justice to investigate alleged acts of corruption, misconduct and misbehaviour by the three commissioners, Charlotte Osei,Georgina Opoku Amnakwah and Amadu Sulley

Speaking publicly on the matter for the first time on Saturday, June 30, 2018, at a townhall meeting with Ghanaians resident in Nouakchott, Mauritania, ahead of the 31st AU Summit, President Akufo-Addo explained that he is duty bound to uphold the teachings of the Constitution.

According to Akufo-Addo, whenever a petition for the removal of a high-ranking public official, like the Electoral Commissioner, is forwarded to the President, all the President has to do, as is stipulated in the Constitution, is to refer the petition to Chief Justice, for her to decide if there is a prima facie case or not.

Once a prima facie case is established, the Chief Justice, in accordance with Article 146(4) of the Constitution, must establish a Committee to investigate the complaints. The Committee, in turn, will make its recommendations to the Chief Justice, who shall, then, forward it to the President.

The Committee, the President noted, was composed of a Supreme Court Judge, two High Court judges, and two persons, who are neither lawyers nor Members of Parliament, and who were appointed by the Chief Justice on the advice of the Council of State.

“They (Committee) have been working over the last 6 months, and recommended that the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwah, be removed from office on the grounds of stated misbehaviour and incompetence,” Akufo-Addo said.

Akufo-Addo stressed that “The law requires that I obey the recommendation by the committee, and that necessitated the dismissal of Charlotte Osei and her deputies”, noting that: “This is our constitution”.

“We all need to understand that Charlotte Osei and her deputies were not dismissed out of hatred or malice”, the president said, adding: “Those who brought the petition were employees of the Electoral Commission, so, I plead with Ghanaians to work together to find persons who will be transparent to work as electoral commissioners”.

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