President Akufo-Addo Explains Reason for Removing EC bosses

President of the Republic has for the first time breaks silence on reason behind removing Electoral Commission Chairman Madam Charlotte Osei and her two deputies from office.

Speaking to the Ghanaian community in Nouakchott, Mauritania, where he is said to attend the 31st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, President Akufo-Addo said he was bound by the recommendations of the Chief Justice Committee that investigated the individuals following a petition by the staff of the firm.

Addressing patrons at the event monitored by this portal thepublisheronline.com, the President made it clear that, removing Mrs Charlotte Osei and her deputies from office was very painful but he had no option.

Mrs Charlotte Osei was sacked on “stated misbehaviour and incompetence” while her deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa, were dismissed for diverting funds into private accounts.

President Akufo-Addo made it known that he was bound by the recommendations of the Chief Justice Committee that investigated them following a petition by the staff of the EC.

“I don’t have the power to say I disagree with the Committee, the law does not give me the power to investigate on my own to say I disagree with the committee,” he said.

Explaining further, the president said: “The law says whatever recommendation the committee will present, I as the President, ought to obey and implement. That is why I removed madam Charlotte Osei and her two deputies from Office.”

“We can’t look at somebody and say because of your beauty the law does not apply to you; that is not how the law works.

“The law is applicable to everyone in Ghana including me. If you do anything against the law, the law ought to be applied. It is painful but that’s what has happened.” – he added.