Charlotte Osei demands identity of petitioners seeking her removal

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei is demanding the full list of the Concern Staff of the Electoral Commission members of which have petitioned the President to remove her from office.

Mrs Osei, through her lawyers, wrote to the lawyer of the group of EC staff following news of their petition.

They had petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove her for alleged breach of procurement laws, incompetence, conflict of interest, partiality and other alleged cases of misconduct.

Thaddeaus Sori, who is the EC’s legal representative, noted that the petitioners are an “amorphous group” so the Commission requires the list of all the members to enable it commence legal action against them for defaming their client.

In a letter dated July 19, 2017 and addressed to Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, the lawyer for Concerned Staff of the Electoral Commission, the lawyer for Charlotte Osei stated that the Chair of the Commission has noted several defamatory statements in the petition and Mrs Osei has given them the go ahead to take a legal action.

Lawyer Sori also added in the letter that the petitioners have violated the confidentiality requirements of Article 146 of the 1992 constitution by making their petition “receive widespread publication in the mass and social media by way of radio broadcasts and discussions”.

For these reasons, he says it is necessary to seek remedy in the law court to protect the reputation to his client.