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General News of Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Source: dailyguideafrica.com
2019-02-06
Former EC President, Charlotte Osei
The Supreme Court has filed the case against the removal of Charlotte Osei as President of the Electoral Commission (EC).
The lawsuit filed by Crusading Guide editor Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jr. alleged that the committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to investigate six charges against the boss. MPs, Amadu Sulley, Operations Manager, and Georgina Opoku-Amakwah, Ministerial Services Officer, "exceeded their authority" by recommending the dismissal of former EC leaders.
According to him, the recommendation of the committee that led to the dismissal of the three officials of the EC is "unconstitutional and therefore void, of no effect and no effect".
However, a seven-member panel chaired by Judge Julius Ansah yesterday rejected the petition, claiming that it did not raise issues of "constitutional interpretation or execution".
The highest court also found that the jurisdiction of the court was not properly invoked – one of the reasons for dismissing the complaint.
Suit
In the heat of the Charlotte Osei Brouhaha action last July, Mr Baako went to the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of the dismissal of Charlotte Osei and her two EC deputies.
The writ challenged the Chief Justice's decision to establish a prima facie case against EC officials based on which the Panel set forth six allegations as presented by the applicants, all of whom were EC employees.
According to the applicant's mandate, the move was inconsistent with Article 146 (3) of the 1992 Constitution.
The writ then asked the court to declare the recommendation and the dismissal of Mrs. Osei and her two deputies unconstitutional, void, void and without effect.
Context
The President of the BOI and her two deputies were dismissed in July 2018 following the recommendation of a committee established by the Chief Justice to investigate a number of serious allegations and against -review the allegations made against the three persons.
The petition was lodged against Mrs Charlotte Osei by 17 EC workers in July 2017 and a counter-petition was then lodged against her two deputies by a non-member of the commission, Emmanuel Korsi Senyo, alias Emmanuel Korsi Senyo Kumedzina, who is an NDC opposition activist and graduated from KNUST.
The three EC gurus were sacked by the President for misconduct and incompetence, as recommended by a five-member committee appointed by the Chief Justice to investigate the affected EC leaders.
After the dismissal of the three EC bosses, the opposition NDC under whose tenure the three officers were relieved at their respective posts cried foul, claiming that the administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was targeting Charlotte Osei to rig the 2020 general election.
However, President Akufo-Addo said that the decision to dismiss the president and her two deputies was not born of hate.
He stated that he had only followed the recommendations of the committee set up by the Chief Justice to investigate complaints against the dismissed employer and her two deputies.
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