Wontumi blasts Haruna Iddrisu over EC boss impeachment

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has reacted angrily to comments by the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu that the National Democratic Congress would resist any attempt by the Akufo-Addo led government to remove Mrs Charlotte Osei from office.

He has asked the MP to “shut up” and recall the trauma they put several appointees through when the NDC won power in 2008.

In an interview with Peacefmonline.com, Chairman Wontumi as he is affectionately called, noted that the NDC were fond of sacking appointees they perceived to be NPP when they were in power and are currently worried the NPP will pay them back in their own coin.

“In January 2009 when the NDC took over, the Central Committee of the National Union of Harbour Employees sent the first request calling on President John Evans Atta Mills to sack Mr Ben Owusu Mensah, Director General (DG) of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).

The trend they set affected former Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood; a number of Ministers of State and Members of Parliament; District Chief Executives; Inspector General of Police, Paul Tawia Quaye; Reverend Dr Asante Antwi, former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church and the Arch-Bishop Palmer Buckle of the Accra Diocese of the Catholic Church”, he recounted.

The current Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei has come under attack following a petition that has been sent to the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to impeach her.

Shortly after news went viral that some aggrieved staff of the EC had sent petitions calling for the impeachment of Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu warned that the NDC would not sit unconcerned for President Akufo-Addo to carry out his purported strategy to oust the EC boss from office just as he had used similar strategy to sack some heads of public institutions since he assumed office.

But Chairman Wontumi claims the swift response from the NDC scribe, shows clearly that the previous government strategically made Mrs. Charlotte Osei the EC boss to gain political and electoral favours.

He stated that “from the look of things, it appears the NDC appointed Charlotte Osei not because she was a female capable of doing the job but to aid them win elections through fraudulent means”.

But Mr Iddrissu claims Ghana, has never witnessed such wanton sacking from office of persons suspected to be loyalists of an opposing party than what President Akufo-Addo had done within the first six months being in government.

He warned the president to abort plans of urging some section of the EC staff to gang up against their boss and cautioned the NPP government not to extend their ‘sacking spree’ of public servants to the chairperson of the EC.

Meanwhile, in the petition drafted by the aggrieved EC workers, they highlighted some acts of misconduct on the part of Mrs. Charlotte Osei since her appointment as EC Chairperson.



The petitioners described the EC Boss as being "administratively inept" and lacking "managerial experience or capacity and knowledge of corporate governance structures and regulatory compliance".

They also cited breaches of some provisions of the 1992 Constitution by the EC Boss regarding her office, conduct and duties.