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General News of Friday, 18 August 2017

Source: mynewsgh.com

EC impeachment saga: Did Petitioners forge EC staff signatures?

Electoral Commission Chair, Charlotte Osei Electoral Commission Chair, Charlotte Osei

There seems to be no end in sight for the crisis brewing at the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana over the petition to impeach the Chairperson of the commission Mrs. Charlotte Osei as some staff members of the commission have denied appending their signatures in the petition for the impeachment of the EC boss.

Mynewsgh.com has gathered from the commission’s head office that some of the staff members who reportedly claim that their signatures were gathered without their knowledge are heading to court for an ex-parte motion seeking three orders of the court to grant an injunction for all parties in the matter to maintain “status quo ante bellum” in respect of the impeachment pending the determination of the substantive suit.

An order of court to preserve the subject matter of the suit pending the final determination of the substantive suit and as such further order as the court may deem fit.

The second application is an originating summons with five questions for determination and four reliefs sought from the court which are;

*Whether the purported signatures collected reflects the true wishes of the staff of the commission.

*Whether the inclusion of names that are unaware of any impeachment doesn’t amount to forgery and gross misconduct.

*Whether the petitioners can act on a forged signature and give effects to laws of the land.

The reliefs sought are;

*A declaration that the purported signatures collected is fraught with irregularities, fraudulent, illegal and void abi initio

*A declaration that petitioners cannot act on forged signature to give effects to the provisions of the constitution

*An order of perpetual injunction restraining the petitioners, their agents, officers and privies from acting on the petition.

It would be recalled that the communication director at the presidency Eugene Arhin announced that the president has officially taken receipt of the signatures and accordingly forwarded same to the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Sophia Akufo as dictated by law to see if there is a prima farce case

But staff of the commission are saying how their signatures were pieced together is what the people on the impeachment committee must investigate.