EC job "too rough for ladies"; reject it - Bagbin to Jean Mensa

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament,

He, therefore, advised the EC Chair nominee, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa, to turn down the appointment.

Mr Bagbin who hopes to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 election argued that the job “is a turf too rough” for a woman.

In an interview with Accra-based Class FM, he said that he advised the dismissed EC Chair, Mrs Charlotte Osei to reject the position when she was appointed by ex-president John Mahama, but she did not heed his advice.

He added that he does not want Mrs Mensa to suffer a similar fate as her predecessor who was fired by President Nana Akufo-Addo over certain breaches.

“If you ask Mrs Charlotte Osei, she will tell you that I advised her not to accept that position. I told her I’ve been in the game and I know it and I told her that if she had another option like going to the Supreme Court, she should rather accept that, but she told me candidly: as for her, she is available to serve the nation in any capacity, and she got there and these are the results."

"It’s the same advice I’ll give to Jean Adukwei Mensa. If she also decides to risk it, so be it,” he added.

On Monday, July 23, 2018, President Akufo-Addo appointed Mrs Jean Mensa, as the new EC Chair to replace Mrs Charlotte Osei.

Mrs Osei was fired with her two deputies Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwah, over procurement breaches and incompetence, per the recommendations of a committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to probe the three commissioners.