It will be unfair, disrespectful for me to comment on current process at EC - Charlotte Osei

The immediate past chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs. Charlotte Osei has declined to comment on the current happenings at the EC.

Mrs. Osei who was removed from office on grounds of misconduct said it would not be proper for her to comment on activities at the EC since she was a former commissioner.

According to her, it would be an interference for former chairs to comment on the work being conducted by the EC.

She was speaking in an interview with KSM last Friday.

Mrs. Osei told the host the only thing she owes this country is her silence when it comes to activities of the EC.

“As a former Chair, it would be unfair to publicly comment on whatever is happening at the commission now. Respect must be given to the current commissioners to do their work without the interference of commentaries from former chair"s.

"And so, to any question you have on the current process, I would say that all I owe to my country, and to the commission, would be my silence and my prayers. And would have to leave it at that.”

Mrs Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa were removed from office in 2018 for misconduct.

Mrs Charlotte Osei, breached procurement laws in the award of several contracts, prior to the 2016 elections.

Excerpts of the 54-page report which warranted her removal said: “In November 2017, the Honourable Chief Justice of Ghana established a prima facie case on some of the allegations made against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission as contained in the petition submitted to His Excellency, the President of the Republic.”

“In all, the Chief Justice made prima facie case against the Chairperson on six of the allegations contained in the said petition.”

For all the six allegations, the committee found Mrs Osei culpable and said her explanation that she was not aware that she needed to go through procurement for some of the contracts because the monies involved were from donor partners, was untenable.

“The findings we have made on the allegations made against Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, clearly gives a catalogue of breaches she inflicted on the Public Procurement Act. In all the procurement activities which we had to investigate, the findings have been that Mrs. Charlotte Osei failed to comply with the Public Procurement Act.

“The procurement activities include the engagement of Sory@Law and Associates for the Commission, the award of several contracts to STL, the two contracts for the partitioning and consultancy service of the new office block, the three contracts awarded for the construction of pre-fabricated district offices of the Commission and consultancy services thereof; the two contracts awarded to Dreamoval Ltd, and finally the two contracts awarded to Quazar Limited from South Africa. Evidence before the committee showed that all these contracts were awarded by Mrs. Charlotte Osei contrary to the Public Procurement Act” the report noted.

“On this point we disagree with Mrs. Charlotte Osei because we are convinced that procurement forms an important part of the core business of the Electoral Commission. Indeed, without procuring relevant goods and services, the Electoral Commission will find it difficult, if not impossible, to independently conduct free and fair elections in the country. In fact, procurement is so important to the Electoral Commission, that was why no less a person than the Chairperson is made the head of entity of the Commission,” the report read in part.