I will not be dragged into media war - Deputy EC chair denies Charlotte Osei response

Deputy Commissioner of the Electoral Commission Georgina Opoku Amankwah has denied authoring a statement calling EC Chair, Charlotte Osei, "a dangerous character."

The deputy commissioner pointed to efforts by "mischief makers" to drag her into a media war at the commission.

Social media is awash with a statement captioned, "Georgina Opoku Amankwah responds to Charlotte Osei."

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"Madam Charlotte Osei is a dangerous character. It was her dangerous machinations that we resisted.

"Madam Charlotte Osei is a dangerous character. It was her dangerous machinations that we resisted. We are accused of insubordination and arrogance because we condemned her secret meetings with some politicians to rig the December elections. We resisted being part of a conspiracy she hatched to alter results in favour of some political parties. I personally told her bluntly to abandon such moves and let the process be fair and transparent. Her announcement that only 42% turned out to vote in December was part of the conspiracy to alter results. All her deputies were unanimous that we would not support her to steal the mandate of the Ghanaian people. She is not fit for the job"

But the deputy in a statement she signed emphasised, she is not the author of the statement.

She insists she has desisted from any media encounter since the emergence of a full-blown row at the commission between the chair Charlotte Osei and some of her staff who want her out.

Charlotte Osei's response to her accusers escalated the controversy by roping in two deputies , Amadu Sulley in charge of Operations and Georgina Opoku Amankwah in charge of Corporate Services.

Mrs. Amankwaah, in particular, has been accused of signing contracts worth over GH¢40m without the knowledge and authorization of the chairperson. She has responded to this and other allegations against her in a statement to the Council of State.

The deputy commissioner, however, says she has refused to respond to the allegations in the media because she is determined to preserve the sanctity of the sole constitutional body charged to organise elections.

She noted in her statement that there has been negative publications against her since May but she refrained from commenting publicly.

Georgina Amakwaah was asked to proceed on leave on July 6 after EOCO named her in investigations to find missing GHS480,000 of the staff endowment fund.

The lawyer expressed hope that she would be afforded an appropriate opportunity to respond to the claims.

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