The Coalition for Social Justice (CSJ), a pressure group, has expressed dismay over the dismissal of Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) by the President.
Its convener, Sammy Gyamfi, addressing a press conference in Accra, labelled the decision as harsh.
Mrs. Osei together with her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, had been removed from office based on the recommendations of the Chief Justice’s (CJ) Judicial Enquiry Committee.
In July 2017, some concerned workers of the EC petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cause full-scale investigations into acts of financial malfeasance and abuse of by the EC Chairperson.
The six-page petition was referred to the CJ, who after establishing that there was a case to be answered, set up the Committee as required by the Constitution.
Mr Gyamfi, however, said the petition sent to the President was incompetent and legally unrecognizable.
He claimed that it was undated, unsigned and fell short of the constitutional requirements of a petition.
“We hold the view, that the Chief Justice acted unlawfully when she propounded a new legal definition of a petition in contravention of the decision of the Supreme Court in the Agyei Twum case.”
He said it was “legally pathetic that an incompetent petition would form the basis for the dismissal of Mrs Osei for incompetence”.
“We are of the opinion that a peripheral issue like violation of the Public Procurement law should not constitute enough grounds for the impeachment of the EC Boss whose position is equivalent to a Court of Appeal Judge under the laws of Ghana,” he added.
He said this was particularly so because the Public Procurement Act “specifies remedies for its breaches and this does not include removal from office”.
“The Coalition for Social Justice would soon embark on a series of mass protests in the regions to drum home their revulsion for this creeping tyranny in our country.”
Source: GNA
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