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A dose of Charlotte Osei and Nana Addo’s 6 months of “nothing”

This past week has been tough, with Nana Addo's presser after his first six months in office, the NDC's response and the controversy at the Electoral Commission. Here's a review of the happenings.

The opposition National Democratic Congress, however, said that the president had failed in his first six months in office, in their usual press conferences which have often ended up with wild allegations without any evidence to back those.

This time round, they accused the governing New Patriotic Party government of being behind the recent killings of police officers in the country and the party has up till now yet to come out with concrete evidence to support those serious allegations.

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Nevertheless, the NDC’s “noise” somehow subdued when the controversy at the Electoral Commission gained momentum.

It began with some “concerned staff” at the commission petitioning the president to remove the Chairperson, Charlotte Osei over claims that she had engaged in some fraudulent activities.

Among some of the things listed were that she “single-handedly” dished out contracts to the tune of $21,999,592 without recourse to the Public Procurement Act. She was also accused of spending over GHS4 million on her residence.

Her lawyers immediately hit back, demanding to know who the petitioners were to enable them pursue the matter appropriately in court.

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Even Mrs Charlotte Osei herself was forced to pen down a statement debunking the allegations and assuring that she will respond to each of them at the appropriate time.

And in keeping to her word, Madam Osei came out with a rather staggering response to the about 27 claims made by the petitioners.

She blatantly accused her deputies of gross insubordination, corruption, and arrogance. They are: Deputy in Charge of Operations, Amadu Sulley, Corporate Services, Georgina Opoku Amankwaa; and Finance and Administration, Dr Joseph Kwaku Asamoah.

These backs and forth so far between the EC boss and her “faceless” petitioners have been very embarrassing. It is clearly an attack on the integrity of the EC as presently constituted.

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Well, some have said that the allegations from the petitioners are infantile and they should have done better if their aim is to remove a public officer whose position is well protected by the constitution.

Nevertheless, what struck me most is the EC Chair’s response which I feel has put the credibility of the EC into disrepute.

I also wonder if she would have come out with such allegations against her deputies if the petitioners had not first accused her of fraudulent activities.

And if it finally emerges that all the allegations levelled against her eventually prove to be without merit, will she able to work with her accusers moving forward? What will be the working relationship amongst them?

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In fact, you cannot describe your insubordinates as rude and faceless and then expect them to smile at you when they meet you at work.

And that is why we should probably disband the current EC and ask all the commissioners to step aside if need be.

We really need to start this whole EC all over again and make it a truly independent one. Besides, we need a full-scale investigation into the claims made, and it’s interesting to know that the Economic and Organised Crimes Office has already taken that step.

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