Former President John Mahama has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo sacked the former chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa over flimsy and contrived reasons.
Mahama delivering a lecture on "Africa's Strategic Priorities and Global Role" at Chatham House, London, on Friday, January 27, 2023, said the actions of Nana Addo undermined the independence and neutrality of the workers of the election management body.
According to him, Africa needs to build stronger institutions to address institutional and political decay.
He commended civil society organizations (CSOs) in Africa on the continent for holding governments accountable.
He said "In many cases, as is the case in Ghana, there have been overt efforts by the government to weaken these institutions and bend them to its will" and used Charlotte Osei as an example.
"A case in point was the ouster of the then-Chairperson of Ghana's Electoral Commission and two other senior officials by the President of Ghana over clearly flimsy and contrived reasons," he added.
Some concerned workers of the EC in July 2017 petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Chief Justice to begin impeachment processes against Charlotte Osei.
They accused Osei of taking unilateral decisions without recourse to the appropriate departments of the EC, even her deputies.
They also accused the EC Chair of engaging in fraudulent activities, citing her decision to cancel a contract awarded to Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) to supply and manage Biometric Voter Registration machines (BVRs) and the Biometric Voter Devices (BVDs), as well as her directive for the payment of $76,000 to IT firm, Dream Oval.
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh