“I Had No Choice But To Remove EC Chair, Deputies” – President Akufo-Addo.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, has stated that he had no choice but to act on the
recommendations of the Committee set up by the Chief Justice to
investigate complaints against the former Chairperson of the Electoral
Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and
Georgina Opoku Amankwah.
Speaking publicly on the matter for the first time on
Saturday, 30th June, 2018, at a townhall meeting with Ghanaians
resident in Nouakchott, Mauritania, ahead of the conduct of the 31st AU
Summit, President Akufo-Addo explained that he is duty bound to uphold
the teachings of the Constitution.
According to the President, whenever a petition for
the removal of a high-ranking public official, like the Electoral
Commissioner, is forwarded to the President, all the President has to
do, as is stipulated in the Constitution, is to refer the petition to
Chief Justice, for her to decide if there is a prima facie case or not.
Once a prima facie case is established, the Chief
Justice, in accordance with Article 146(4) of the Constitution, must
establish a Committee to investigate the complaints. The Committee, in
turn will make its recommendations to the Chief Justice, who shall,
then, forward it to the President.
The Committee, the President noted, was composed of a
Supreme Court Judge, two High Court judges, and two persons, who are
neither lawyers nor Members of Parliament, and who were appointed by the
Chief Justice on the advice of the Council of State.
“They (Committee) have been working over the last 6
months, and recommended that the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Charlotte
Osei, and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwah, be
removed from office on the grounds of stated misbehaviour and
incompetence,” the President said.
He continued, “Article 146(9) of the Constitution
demands that I act on the recommendations of the committee. I have no
power to disagree with the recommendations of the Committee, the
Constitution does not give me that power. That is why I have removed the
Chairperson of the EC and the two deputies.”
Reiterating his commitment to build a country
governed by the rule of law, the President indicated that the laws
governing our country must not be a respecter of persons.
“I, as President, am bound to respect the laws of our
land. If I go against the laws of the country, I will be dealt with.
Likewise, if you also go against the laws of the country, you must be
dealt with. It is sad (the removal of the three EC Chairs), but this is
how it must be,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo stressed that the process that
led to the removal of Charlotte Osei and her two deputies “was not borne
out of hate, or a deliberate orchestration to remove some persons from
their jobs.”
The petitioners, he added, are workers of the
Electoral Commission and not faceless persons, as some would want
Ghanaians to believe. The President also recounted the publicly
documented spat between the 3 former EC chairpersons.
In the search for replacements, the President stated
that “we are not looking for persons who are coming to do a job for the
NDC or for the NPP. We are looking for persons who are coming to do a
job for Ghana. That is what we are looking for, for the Electoral
Commission”.
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