Reinstate Charlotte Osei and her two deputies or face our wrath - GMnet

We the People of Ghana, IN EXERCISE of our Sovereignty as a people under Article 1(1) of the 1992 Constitution, and in further exercise of our natural and inalienable right to demand responsible governance, which shall secure for ourselves, and posterity the blessings of liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity; AND IN SOLEMN declaration and affirmation of our commitment to;

Freedom, Justice, Probity and Accountability; The Principle that all powers of Government spring from the Sovereign Will of the People; The Rule of Law; The protection and preservation of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Unity and Stability for our Nation; Do humbly wish to bring to the fore worrying happenings at the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, GRASSROOT MOBILIZERS NETWORK is a non-partisan civil society group made up of ordinary Ghanaians. Our Mission is to mobilize, build consensus and create platforms needed for the promotion of participatory governance through strengthening of state institutions and the encouragement of grassroot participation in the chain of decision making in our dear country.

It is our firm conviction that every national issue that has the disposition of throwing Ghana into chaos must be dealt with dispassionately.

In light of the above, we are of the view that we as a people, must make a demand for responsible governance legitimately by exploring all avenues afforded us by law regardless of the political party holding the reins to governmental power and hence our press conference.

The turn of events in Ghana today under the watch of H.E President Nana Addo is nothing to write home. It is only God who can save us!

28th day of June 2018 is indeed Ghana’s day of shame…….That the fifth president of the fourth republic President Akufo-Addo with the help of the Chief Justice and some faceless individuals successfully schemed to remove the first ever woman chairperson of the Electoral Commission and turn round and float another woman as her replacement just to throw sand in the eyes of Ghanaians to cover their scheme.

For every crime there are always traces of evidence if one looks hard enough for which reason we wish to take you down memory lane with series of actions taken by associates of the New Patriotic Party in their quest to get rid of Madam Charlotte Osei.

It is interesting to note that after her appointment on June 2015 as EC chair by former President H.E. John Dramani Mahama; the current first gentleman and his party apparatchiks vowed to remove her even in opposition.

The first ever move to get her ousted was made by Mr. Richard Nyama of the Progressive National Forum an offshoot of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and he is also a leading member of the Young Patriot, another wing of the NPP, when he petitioned former President Mahama with a fictitious allegation to remove Madam Osei on the grounds that she was still serving on the Ghana Reinsurance Board which happened to be false. You have to remember this same gentleman has it boldly written in his own profile of having the goal of electing Nana Addo as president in 2016.

When this attempt to remove Madam Charlotte Osei failed, they changed their strategy into abuse and personal attack.

We believe you in the media have a chronicle of such abuses and harassments on her but we will refresh your memories a little. Mr. Bernard Bosiako popularly known as chairman Wontumi, the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman on NEAT FM morning show stated that ‘’He always doubted the integrity of Charlotte Osei. According to him former President Mahama was fraudulent in her appointment and she should resign honorably before she is forced to’’.

Her image was also allegedly photo-shopped on a poster as an NDC parliamentary candidate for Evalue Gwira-Jomoro constituency in 2008 by a communications team member of the NPP just to vilify and maligned her.

Madam Charlotte Osei has to endure copious attack from the New Patriot Party (NPP) and their surrogates. She has been abused, attacked, harassed and saddled with many unsubstantiated accusations about her suitability, competence and presumed political bias.

The famous of all attacks was from the Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong when he alleged Madam Charlotte Osei offered sex for her position. How can we as a Nation subject and label our own successful women as prostitutes.

Beside the abuse, attacks, harassment and wild accusations about her suitability, competence and presumed political bias she was further subjected to legal battles and protest from NPP affiliated groups such as Danquah Institute which is headed by the president’s nephew, Let My Vote Count Alliance, Alliance for Accountable Governance and many others.

The attacks were further intensified after the attempt by let my vote count alliance failed to get the EC to collate a new vote rregister even though she gave them a platform to make their case which Mr. Mac Manu ended up embarrassing the leadership of his party following his disgraceful performance at the forum, and all attempts were made to discredit her because they believe she wasn’t going to give them victory.

In spite of all these prejudices towards her by the NPP and their affiliate, she still organized and supervised one of the most credible elections in the history of Ghana which got H.E the President declared as the winner of the 2016 elections.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the swiftness to which the President dealt with the petition to remove the EC chair and her two deputies beat our imagination. This is the same President who was petitioned by a taxi driver to remove the former Chief Justice Madam Georgina Wood over her handling of Anas’ expose on the judiciary he did not lift a finger.

Brogya Gyamfi also petitioned this same President to constitute a committee of enquiry to investigate the $2.25 billion bond issued by the Finance Minister Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta on behalf of the government but our dear President did nothing.

Friends of the media we can go on and on about petitions presented to the President which he has done nothing about…As we speak now the Youth of La has also petitioned the president against the current Chief Justice Madam Sophia Akuffo but alas!

However, when it came to the petition against the EC chair and her deputies which was written by faceless people and described by many well-meaning Ghanaians as fraudulent, our President acted swiftly and told Ghanaians he was just a post master. We wonder if the president truly understands what is meant by responsible leadership.

Friends of the media, we would have been very proud of our President if he had used the same speed, swiftness and promptness to open the University Of Ghana Medical Centre and all the other medical facilities which has been completed by Ex-President Mahama so we can all get access to good medical care.

Furthermore, if the President could have transferred the same swiftness into handling the corruption scandals and pressing national issues which hit his administration such as $2.25bn Ken bond deal, Website development at a cost of Gh800,000, $2.5m Ghana Post GPS deal, $178 Kelni GVG /NCA deal, $4m mobile interoperability deal, $1.22b national registration exercise, $20M mortgage of Ghana to USA (for Military base), Planting 4 Food/Jobs - Gh8m for public education on fall army worm invasion , $3m, BOST - Gh1.5m Contaminated fuel , NLA - CEO giving his in-law 11 sole sourced contracts in a single day but still sits comfortably in his office, and on and on.

Obviously, it is very clear our President has never been in a hurry to resolve any of the above mentioned scandals yet when it came to Madam Charlotte Osei and her deputies he was faster than the speed of light.

How can a man who carries himself as a human right advocate be doing this against a fellow Ghanaian? We fear that the path the President is towing is highly dangerous and must be condemned by Ghanaians and the international community. Mr. President, stop telling us that it is a constitutional system that made you remove, the renowned elections administrator, Madam Charlotte Osei. No the truth is far from that! The actions and inactions of activists and leading members of your own party has already exposed your plot of rigging the 2020 elections. This is dangerous to our democracy……The country Ghana is supreme and more powerful than any individual or groupings. We shall do all within our powers to jealously protect the peace of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana.

Is it not strange that one of the petitioners Mr. Forson Ampofo didn’t have knowledge of their own petition or the details of their petition? Even one of the so called petitioners was died long ago.

Ladies and gentlemen the actions of the president is cutting deep into the fiber of what is holding this country together and if we do not reject this abuse of power by the NPP, state institutions in Ghana will be completely run down and checks and balances needed to ensure at least some semblance of fairness will be lost.

This president has already politicized the CID, the judiciary has gotten its fair share of politicization with the appointment of Gloria Akuffo as the Attorney General and Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo who are alleged to be his family relations. So if the security of this country is compromised by CID head whose only interest is the promotion of the NPP agenda and the judiciary is run by family relations of the President, one will wonder where we are heading towards as a country. The only state institution left is the Electoral Commission which is not under the control of the president, but his attempt to run one man show can’t be accepted and must be rejected by all because if we sit down unconcerned, our great nation Ghana will be destroyed beyond repairs.

We call on the President and his government as a matter of urgency to;

1. Make the Petition public

2. Make the list of the faceless petitioners public

3. Make names of the committee members public

4. Make the full committee report public

5. Stop interfering in the administration of autonomous institutions of state

6. Immediately Reinstate Madam Charlotte and her two deputies for the sustained growth of our democracy.

By this press statement, we are calling on Civil Society, the Clergy, the Ghana Bar Association, Trade Union Congress, Peace Council, National Union of Ghana Students, Political Parties and all well-meaning Ghanaians to join us condemn this well calculated Scheme used to remove the EC chair and her deputies and demand for their immediate reinstatement.

God bless our homeland Ghana and make us great and strong.

MOBILIZERS…..ACTION!!!

Signed

Senior Member (Mr. Doe Saviour)

Mobile number: 0246632631