EC Chair fights back ahead of possible impeachment proceedings

A legal battle looms between lawyers of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission and counsel for some unnamed workers of the Commission who are demanding the impeachment of the EC chair Charlotte Osei.

Thaddeus Sory who is Lawyer for Mrs Osei insists the content of a 29-point petition which is supposed to be the basis for the impeachment of his client were injurious and defamatory.

He has therefore written to Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, lawyer for the petitioners, demanding that he presents the names and identities of the workers of the EC so that legal action will be taken against them, failing which he the lawyer will be named as the defendant.

Maxwell Agyemang is yet to be served a copy of the letter but has called the bluff of his colleague insisting fighting defamation has always been part of his profession.

Petition

On Tuesday night, Joy News intercepted copies of a 29-point petition by workers of the Electoral Commission requesting for the impeachment of the Chairperson for stated misbehavior.

The unnamed workers alleged the Chairperson of the Commission in many instances breached the Procurement Law in procuring goods and services for the Commission.

In what the petitioners claim to be a one-woman show, Charlotte Osei was alleged to have unilaterally and without recourse to procurement procedures engaged the services of lawyers, Sory@Law who represented the Commission in the pre-election legal banter with aggrieved parties and disqualified flagbearers.

She was also alleged to have abrogated an existing contract with Super Tech Ltd. (STL), unilaterally renegotiating and re-awarding the contract at new sum of $21,999,592 without serious regard to the tender processes.

“The chairperson, Mrs Charlotte Osei unilaterally awarded a contract of about $25,000 to a South African company Quazar Limited to change and re-develop the Commission’s Logo under the guise of rebranding without going through tender contrary to the Public Procurement Act,” point 26 of the petition read.

Apart from the breaches of the Procurement Law, the petitioners claimed the EC chair compromised her position and the independence of the Commission by attending cabinet meetings during the tenure of the John Mahama administration and even caused the arrangement of a 2015 Land Cruiser with registration number WR 2291-15 from the office of the president for use as her official vehicle.

The petitioners also levelled allegations of managerial, administrative incompetence and ineptitude against the EC Chair.

So bad is her human relations, that the EC Chair is not on talking terms with the two other deputies and has not even visited any of the district EC offices ever since she was appointed, the petitioners claimed.

“The chairperson has submitted an estimate of over 1 million for the renovation of the official bungalow for the Chairperson without recourse to the Commission or the appropriate staff in the commission,” the petitioners claimed.

The July 13, 2017 petition has since been submitted to the presidency, for onward submission to the Chief Justice for preliminary investigations.

More soon

Source: Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah