PPP to join petition against EC Chair removal

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP), is seeking to join a petition set to trigger the removal of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei from office.

The EC boss and two of her deputies Amadu Sulley (in charge of Operations), and Georgina Amankwa (in charge of Corporate Services) on Monday appeared before the Chief Justice committee hearing their impeachment over allegations of mismanagement and incompetence at the commission.

The two deputies have accused their boss of financial mismanagement and poor leadership, an accusation she has rejected.

Both parties have been given three weeks by the Chief Justice to file their statement of response to the committee after which the hearing will continue.

The PPP in a statement has noted that, it will present “evidence against the Electoral Commission of Ghana” if given the chance to join the case.

“As a lawful party, our shared responsibility is to educate Ghanaians on why our democracy takes place in a framework of a Presidential representative democratic republic, with the President as both head of state and head of government, and with multi-party democracy as our accepted form of democracy,” it argued.

The Policy Advisor for PPP, Kofi Asamoah Siaw has told Accra-based Citi FM in an interview that the party has taken issues with the Electoral Commission’s function of being a regulator of the activities of political parties, and have gathered enough evidence to enable them to make representation of what they feel may constitute a ground for another petition to be sent to the President.

Meanwhile, the EC Boss has asked the President and the Chief Justice committee probing her and her two deputies to furnish her with a copy of the petition seeking her impeachment.

She said, even though she has cooperated with the committee over the alleged issues plaguing the commission, she is yet to receive a copy of the specific allegations being made against her by her staff.

Some individuals believed to be staff of the Commission in July 2017 petitioned the President to remove Mrs. Osei over alleged abuse of office, causing financial loss to the state and breaches of Ghana’s procurement laws.

The petition was subsequently forwarded to the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, as required by law, to establish a prima facie case based on which impeachment proceedings would commence against the EC chair.