Some aggrieved employees of the Electoral Commission (EC) have petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to dismiss the Chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei.
The employees in a statement insisted Mrs. Osei should be impeached for among others, bringing the “Commission’s name into disrepute by single highhandedly petitioning EOCO on an alleged misappropriation of staff endowment fund for malicious reasons. ”
They further revealed that following her appointment as EC Chair, Mrs. Osei “compromised the independence and neutrality of the Commission by arranging for 2015 V8 Land Cruiser with registration WR 2291-15 from the office of the President for use as official vehicle without going through the procurement process or recourse to the Commission.”
The aggrieved employees also alleged that Mrs Osei “unilaterally awarded a contract to the tune of GHS 3.9 million for demarcation and partitioning of the said office complex without recourse to the Commission” and “engaged in cronyism” by “awarding another contract to the tune of $14,310,961 (United State Dollars) to her cronies for the construction of Pre-fabricated District offices without recourse to the Commission. ”
“The value of these contracts is in excess of the approved threshold by the Public Procurement Authority. One of the contractors by name Messrs Contracts & Cads Limited is related to Mrs. Charlotte Osei. Upon receipt of advance mobilization under the approval of the Chairperson, the company has failed to meet the contract terms.”
The petition was signed by the lawyer for the employees, Maxwell Opoku Agyemang.
The petition from the aggrieved employees follows the loss of some GHc480, 000 from the EC’s Endowment Fund which prompted Mrs. Osei to ask the Commission’s Deputy Chairperson in-charge of Finance and Administration, Georgina Opoku Amankwah and the Finance Director , Dr. Joseph Kweku Asamoah to proceed on leave.
Dr. Kweku Asamoah however refused to obey the directive, arguing that he was neither the Director of Finance nor holding any position to influence management’s decision regarding financial administration of the Endowment Fund, when the scandal occurred.
He subsequently proceeded on leave after threats to sanction him over his refusal to obey the directive.
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