The National Democratic Party (NDP) has welcomed the decision by President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove the Chair of the Electoral Commission as well as two of her deputies from office.
According to the NDP, the decision to remove the three Commissioners Mrs Charlotte Osei, Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwaah and Mr. Amadu Sulley- is a proof of the President’s commitment to save the public purse.
The removal is on the recommendation of a committee set up by the Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, to investigate alleged acts of corruption, misconduct and misbehaviour by the three commissioners.
Information Minister, Dr. Mustapha Hamid, in a statement issued Thursday, June 28, 2018, announced the dismissal of Charlotte Osei, Georgina Opoku Amankwaah and Sulley Amadu for misbehaviour and incompetence.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has kicked against the decision describing it as politically motivated and has demanded a reversal of the President’s action.
National Organiser, Kofi Adams claims the accusations against Charlotte Osei are trumped up claiming that the decision remove her as well as her two deputies, is part of a well thought out plan by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the 2020 elections.
But the NDP which is an offshoot of the NDC, whose candidate, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings was disqualified by the EC from contesting the Presidential Election in 2016, has hailed the President’s move as a “great reliefâ€.
“The National Democratic Party, NDP, has learnt with great relief the dismissal of Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), from office by a due process of the constitution and rule of law†the party said in a statement issued Tuesday, July 3 and signed by Secretary General, Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong.
Charlotte Osei given 14 days to seek legal address
Sammy Gyamfi, Convener of anti-corruption group, Coalition for Social Justice (CSJ), has given former Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei a 14-day ultimatum to seek legal address following her “unlawful†dismissal from the Commission.
The decision underscores the President’s commitment to safeguard the national purse from reckless scramble for wanton dissipation of public funds, it noted.
It noted also: “By the NDP’s encounter with the dismissed EC Chair in the run-up to the 2016 elections, it was clear that in just a matter of time the Commission was going to crash in obvious managerial incompetence and stalled democracy.â€
“The EC logo splash and Mrs Charlotte Osei’s infamous declaration that she had ‘seen, chosen and loved it’ began an ego trip that would lead to her scramble to wantonly dissipate public funds, monetize and auction our democracy,†the statement added.
This, according to the statement, “…explains why she [Charlotte Osei] would still disqualify the NDP 2016 Presidential Candidate even though we filed an impeccably completed document and also after the Supreme Court had ordered her to reverse her decision and grant the NDP a hearingâ€.
“The NDP, therefore, throws out full support behind the President’s appropriate dismissals at the Electoral Commission as an act to safeguard our democracy from auction to the highest bidder,†it said.
source; myjoyonline.com
