The Ashanti Regional Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has taken a direct swipe at former President John Mahama for badmouthing the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission and her two deputies.
In a lecture on ‘Africa’s strategic priorities and global role’ at Chatham House, London, Mr. Mahama used the Charlotte Osei ouster to demonstrate how African leaders undermine institutions of democracy to entrench their stay in power.
“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”.
“They were then replaced with persons with noticeable leanings towards the incumbent party and whose actions have served to undermine public confidence in their independence and neutrality, two ingredients which are vital prerequisites for the sustenance of Ghana’s acclaimed democracy”, he indicated.
But reacting to the comment by Mr. Mahama, the NPP Chairman popularly known as Chairman Wontumi told Wontumionline.com that the claims by the 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were false and should be dumped in a bin.
According to him, the person Mr. Mahama once nominated to Chair the Electoral Commission of Ghana acted with disdain and was only interested in “changing the logos of the Commission instead of improving upon our electoral system”.
“Charlotte Osei was elected EC Chairperson but highly incompetent when it came to discharging her duties. She did bring any positive reform to the commission. She was only interested in changing the logos of the Commission instead of improving upon our electoral system”.
“We also had one of her deputies in the person of Amadu Sulley who abandoned his duties and became the spokesperson for Mr. John Mahama during the 2012 election petition. He was made a deputy to do the bidding of John Mahama at the EC and it is that pain that has affected him to speak that way at the Chatham House”, Chairman Wontumi said.
President Akufo-Addo sacked Mrs Osei and two deputies Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa in 2018.
Their removal was based on recommendations from a committee that investigated corruption and misconduct allegations against them.
The president met the three EC officials and handed them their dismissal letters.
Some concerned workers of the Electoral Commission in July 2017 petitioned the president and the Chief Justice to begin impeachment processes against the Mrs Osei.
They accused her of taking unilateral decisions without recourse to the appropriate departments of the EC.
The group also accused the EC Chair of engaging in fraudulent activities, citing, as evidence, 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.
Following that, a counter-argument ensued between Mrs Osei and her two deputies that portrayed that all was not well between the three topmost commissioners at the EC.
