Ahead 2020 election, Ghana President fires electoral commission chief

Ex-Ghana Electoral Umpire, Charlotte Osei

Ahead 2020 election, Ghana President fires electoral commission chief

For “misbehaviour and incompetence”, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana Thursday fired the head of the country’s Electoral Commission Information Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said.

Charlotte Osei was appointed by former President John Mahama as the Electoral Commission chairperson in 2015 and she presided as the Returning Officer for Ghana’s December 7th 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Former foreign minister Nana Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party was elected President on his third attempt, defeating incumbent President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress.

Ghana is awaiting next general election by November or December 2020

The removal of Charlotte Osei and her two deputies was based on a recommendation by a special committee set up by the chief justice to investigate complaints against them, Abdul-Hamid said in a statement.

“The committee recommended their removal on the basis of stated misbehaviour and incompetence, pursuant to Article 146(1) of the Constitution,” the minister said.

The three were directed to transfer their duties to the director for human resource and general services of the commission.

The presidency said last year it had referred a petition from some workers at the Electoral Commission, accusing Ms Osei of abuse of office, to the chief justice for investigation.

Osei denied the accusations and the main opposition has repeatedly said they are trumped up.

Osei, a former corporate lawyer, was appointed by former President John Mahama in mid-2015. She successfully supervised a general election in 2016 which was won by Mr Akufo-Addo, then leader of the main opposition.

The West African major commodity exporter will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2020, in a vote that will be a close contest between Mr Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party and the main opposition National Democratic Congress.

The election results were announced on 9 December 2016 due to a delay of voting in two areas. At 19:51 local time, Mahama called Akufo-Addo to concede defeat. At 20:45, the Electoral Commission declared that Akufo-Addo had defeated Mahama in a single round, the first time that a sitting president of Ghana had failed to win a second term.