Petition to impeach EC Boss: Petitioners breached the law - Samson Ayenini

Private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Ayenini has observed that the petitioners seeking to have the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Madam Charlotte Osei impeached breached portions of the law in the processes.

According to him, details of the petition were not supposed to be made public prior, during and after the process as it was in the case of a former Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Madam Lauretta Vivian Lamptey.

“You are not supposed to make the contents of the petition known until the whole issue is dealt with. If you can remember when I petitioned against the former CHRAJ Commissioner, nothing was heard about the contents of the petition and none of the parties involved spoke about it until the matter was dealt with”, he revealed.

He however stated that the EC Chair who has the same status as an Appeals Court Judge, must be impeached using the same processes that must be followed to have Appeal Court Judges who misconduct themselves dealt with.

Some concerned workers of the Electoral Commission (EC) have petitioned the President and Her Ladyship, the Chief Justice to begin impeachment processes against the Chairperson of the Commission, Madam Charlotte Osei.

In a six-page petition, the group under the umbrella of concerned staff , they accused her of of misconduct citing breaches of some provisions of the 1992 Constitution by the EC Boss regarding her office, conduct and duties.

“Madam Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission on 30th June, 2015 assumed office as Article 71 appointee whiles still holding office as a Board Member of Ghana Re Insurance, a public company contrary to Article 44(4) of the 1992 constitution.

When the issue was raised, the PRO of Ghana Re confirmed that she only resigned on December 5th, 2015. This means that whiles holding office as the Chairperson of the Commission she was still a Board Member of Ghana Re Insurance.

Mrs. Charlotte Osei was appointed as Chairperson of Electoral Commission of Ghana while holding office as Chairperson of the National Commission of Civic Education contrary to the 1992 constitution.

In fact, it was announced at her swearing-in ceremony by the former President that he received her resignation from NCCE on 29th June 2017 before the swearing in.