Charlotte Osei's Sacking A Bad Precedent

Private legal practitioner, John Ndebugri, has launched a scathing attack on the processes leading to and subsequent impeachment of the former Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies.

Mr Ndebugri said although the removal of the former Electoral Commissioners was according to law, “It wasn’t desirable”.

Speaking on UpFront, a current affairs programme on the Joy News channel on Multi TV, Mr Ndebugri explained that a bad precedent has been set which subsequent governments may try to emulate.

“When the political party in power removes the Electoral Commissioners, it sets tone for the succeeding governments to try and do the same thing,” he said.

He noted for instance that Charlotte Osei's predecessor, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan had many flaws but he was allowed to serve his entire term.

“I had personal problems with Afari Gyan but he continued [to serve and completed his term],” he said.

Charlotte Osei removal
The former EC Chair, Charlotte Osei, was sacked from office by the President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo after a judicial committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo found her and her two deputies, Georgina Opoku Amankwa and Amadu Sulley, guilty of procurement breaches.

The petition to Mrs Osei was submitted to the President by some staff of the Electoral Commission and subsequently forwarded to the Chief Justice in accordance with article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.

President Akufo-Addo has since appointed a new Electoral Commissioner and two deputies plus a member of the commission.

All four of them were sworn in Wednesday evening after an injunction seeking to prevent same was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

However, there are still two substantive suits challenging the removal of Charlotte Osei.

A private citizen, Fafali Nyonator wants the Supreme Court to declare that CJ Sophia Akuffo, breached the Constitution and exceeded the limits of her powers by defining the scope of a committee of enquiry that probed a petition for the removal of Mrs Osei.

Also, Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako wants the Supreme Court to declare that ‘stated misbehaviour and incompetence’ per the constitution should be in relation to the core duties of an EC.