CJ Committee Recommended Prosecution Of EC Officials

The Committee set up by the Chief Justice to investigate allegations of corruption against former EC Chair, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa, also recommended prosecution of the officials for some of the claims.

Communications Director at the presidency, Eugene Arhin, who made this known could however not mention which of the officials are likely to be prosecuted.

The three have already been removed from office based on the recommendations of the committee established by Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo.

He indicated that this was among other recommendations that will be forwarded to the Attorney General who will take a final decision.

“I know for a fact that there were some recommendations that were made in the report. The Committee virtually recommended prosecution in some of these instances.

“I cannot be specific in telling who and who, but I can tell there were recommendations for prosecution. Those recommendations will be forwarded to the Attorney General to study, and from there, whatever decision that is taken will be known.”

EC Chair, deputies’ dismissal
President Akufo-Addo on Thursday removed Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa from office.

The dismissal came after the committee which was set up by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, under Article 146(4) of the Constitution recommended their removal from office.

The Committee recommended their removal on the basis of stated misbehavior and incompetence, under Article 146 (1) of the Constitution. Charlotte Osei is accused of several procurement law breaches in the award of contracts prior to the 2016 elections.

A statement by a Minister for Information, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid 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 the 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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