Some staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) whose action led to the removal of the chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, are pushing for the three to be prosecuted for procurement infractions among other corruption allegations.
Mrs. Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa, were on Thursday, June 28 removed from office as Commissioners of the Electoral Commission (EC) by Nana Akufo-Addo on grounds of “stated misbehaviour and incompetence”.
READ: Charlotte Osei, deputies sacked
Their removal was on the back of recommendations from a committee set up by the Chief Justice to investigate the three on allegations brought against them by some staff of the Commission in July 2017.
While their removal has been condemned by some Ghanaians as being politically motivated, especially by the National Democratic Congress, the workers lauded the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, for acting on the recommendations of the CJ’s report to remove the three commissioners.
READ: Akufo-Addo justifies removal of Charlotte Osei, 2 others but says it was ‘painful’
The staff say the removal of Mrs. Osei in particular is not enough and that they will adopt “all legal means available to ensure that her removal is permanent and cast in stone”
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Mrs. Charlotte Osei was removed on grounds of “incompetence and stated misbehaviour”[/caption]
At a news conference Monday, July 9, 2018 the staff, numbering 16, argued aspects of the report of the Chief Justice’s committee on their petition which bothers on criminality on the part of Mrs. Osei, should be forwarded to the Special Prosecutor for further investigation and possible prosecution.
“We shall leave no stone unturned in our quest to ensure that she faces the full effects of the law which she gleefully breached with wanton recklessness,” Rabiu Sulemana, Senior Electoral Assistant at the EC Headquarters said at a news conference Monday.
Accordingly, the workers said they have directed their lawyers to formally submit their complaint to the Special Prosecutor to go into the matter.
Mr. Sulemana said the “grounds for which she [Mrs. Osei] has been found to be liable are also grounds upon which she can be prosecuted”, noting she breached the Procurement Act.
He said the workers were prepared to supply the Special Prosecutor evidence of Mrs. Osei’s dealings with other companies and individuals which they view as being in “breach of trust and conflict of interest”.
“We have seen the removal of Mrs. Charlotte Osei, we like her removal and it makes us happy,” he said in reference to Mrs Osei’s quote “…we like it, we picked it, it makes us happy” when she unveiled the controversial EC logo in April 2016.
By 3news.com|Ghana]]>
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