Charlotte Osei should be applauded – Kofi Akpaloo

After severe criticisms and bashing from sections of society and political figures in the country, Mrs. Osei may just find some solace in the soothing words of Independent Presidential candidate and founder of Independent People's Party (IPP), Kofi Akpaloo.

Kofi Akpaloo believes that contrary to what the masses are saying, Mrs. Charlotte Osei is doing incredibly well in her capacity as the Electoral Commission Chairperson and should be highly commended rather than criticized like she is currently.

According to him, these allegations and claims are mere conspiracies to jeopardize the career of Mrs. Osei as a result of her firmness and commitment to ensuring that the right things are done.

“I think we should applaud Charlotte Osei for what she is doing over there. You know, people are fighting her not because nothing is happening there but because she is not allowing people to do things the old way. She is trying to restructure the place, she is trying to fight corruption that’s why she is being antagonized. I don’t want people to see her as maybe being corrupt or something, she is rather fighting corruption”, he said.

Mr. Akpaloo said that until the appropriate bodies investigate the issue and produce findings accordingly backed by evidence, all these allegations remain “hearsays” or “accusations without substance”.

“Talking about the credibility, it has happened, and until the commission comes out with findings, we will consider all these things to be hearsays or maybe accusations without substance so maybe let’s wait for the commission of enquiry to come out with their enquiries and then we can conclude”.

He maintained that the Chairperson’s “solitary” attitude at work according to the claims is in the right direction because “it will help her focus on her work”.

He urged Ghanaians to look at the positive side of the issue rather than dwell solely on the negatives. According to him, the tension between the three will keep them on their toes such that each will work to ensure they are not exposed by the other.

“You can work with people, you don’t necessarily have to be their friends. You can work with anybody, so far as you are ready to go all out. You have to be productive. Ghana here, we waste time…we’ll be chatting, doing all sort of things that are not directly related to the job that we have to do, so if you don’t have friends at the workplace, it means you concentrate and work.

“This time around, if they are working, they will be looking at each other’s backs..it’s like you are trying to find out what someone else is doing wrong so everybody will be careful and then they’ll work for the benefit of this country so I think this is a welcoming something that we should all look at, we shouldn’t look at only at the bad side, we should look at the positive”, he said.

A petition from some aggrieved staff of the Electoral commission, signed by Counsel for the staff, Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang sought that the Chair of the commission be impeached. The group cited among other things the breaching of the Procurement Law in procuring goods and services for the Commission.

Charlotte Osei following the petition responded, dismissing the claims levelled against her. She, in her response described her deputies as grossly “insubordinate” and “rude” and cited several instances where these deputies had breached their mandates.

Mrs. Charlotte Osei having been invited Wednesday before the house in Parliament for questioning over some unaccounted monies omitted in the commission’s 2017 financial report, told the house that the monies were intact and had been transferred into the commission’s GCB bank account, explaining that failure to document the details in the 2017 financial report was an oversight which she has to consult the Financial Director about.

According to her, the total amount of GHC 42,710 generated from the accreditation fees and the over GHC 2.5 million collected for replacing Voter’s ID Cards could not have been spent without the approval of the Financial Director.

She explained to Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensa Bonsu who queried her on when she found out about the monies that, she discovered the cash only after she requested for the Commission’s bank statement following an invitation from Parliament.