Gloria Afua Akuffo – Attorney General
A private citizen has dragged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Gloria Afua Akuffo to the Supreme Court over the dismissal of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei and her two deputies.
According to the plaintiff, Fafali Nyonator, the committee set up by the Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to investigate the allegations levelled against the sacked EC officials acted in excess of its powers when it recommended their removal from office.
She contended that the committee usurped the powers of the apex court which has exclusive jurisdiction to interpret the 1992 Constitution.
The plaintiff also avers that the establishment of a prima facie case against the three by the committee is inconsistent with Article 130 (a).
Ms Nyonator stated that per the said determination, the CJ usurped the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
The plaintiff is, therefore, praying the apex court to declare the prima facie case against Charlotte Osei and her two deputies as null and void.
She is also praying the court for an order to declare as null and void the committee’s recommendations.
The plaintiff is also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining President Akufo-Addo from appointing any person as the chairperson of the EC until “that positon has become lawfully vacant in accordance with proper processes and procedures as by law established.”
The Attorney-General has 14 days within which to file her statement of case.
Removal
The chairperson of the EC and her two deputies were removed from office last Thursday following the recommendation by a committee set up to investigate some serious allegations and counter allegations made against the three.
The petition had been brought against Charlotte Osei by 17 workers of the EC in July last year, and afterwards a counter petition was filed against her two deputies by a non-staff of the commission named Emmanuel Korsi Senyo, who is an activist of the opposition NDC.
Following the removal of the three EC bosses, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), under whose tenure all the three officers were elevated to their respective positions, claimed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration was targeting Charlotte Osei in order to rig the 2020 general election.
Clean Hands
President Akufo-Addo said the decision to remove the chairperson of the EC and her two deputies from office was not borne out of hatred.
He said he only acted on the recommendations of the committee set up by the CJ to investigate complaints against the sacked EC boss and her two deputies-Amadu Sulley in-charge of Operations and Georgina Opoku-Amankwa in-charge of Corporate Services.
He explained that he acted in line with constitutional dictates.
By Gibril Abdul Razak