I'll respond to "baseless" allegations – Charlotte Osei
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, says she is ready to respond to allegations made against her by some staff of the Commission.
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According to her, those allegations are only aimed at attacking her person and that she would respond to the 29-point petition in due course.
“I understand from the media that the Presidency has received the alleged petition. I have my full responses ready for each and every allegation made in the so-called petition. However, in deference to His Excellency the President of the Republic, for whom I have the highest levels of respect, I would respectfully wait to be formally informed by the Presidency before I make my responses public,” Mrs Osei said in a press statement released Friday morning.
Some workers of the EC on Wednesday petitioned President Akufo-Addo and the Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, to cause full-scale investigations into allegations of financial malfeasance and abuse of office levelled against their boss.
Read also: Remove EC boss from office - Concerned workers petition President
Citing breaches of some provisions of the 1992 Constitution by the EC Chairperson regarding her office, conduct and duties, the six-page petition also called for impeachment processes to be initiated for her removal from office.
In a response to the petition, Mrs Osei described the petition as “frivolous, baseless and actuated by malice and ill will.”
Read also: Petition: EC Chair Charlotte Osei to sue accusers
“These allegations are in my view, the product of an overactive evil imagination, and do not deserve any serious attention. I wish to state categorically that all the defamatory allegations are outright lies and without any merit whatsoever,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has acknowledged receipt of the petition and that the President was currently studying it.
Below is Mrs Charlotte Osei’s full press statement
RESS RELEASE
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ME ARE BOGUS
My attention has been drawn to a litany of phony allegations made against me by a certain Maxwell Opoku Agyemang in a supposed ‘petition’ on behalf of unidentified person(s), asking for my removal from office.
The contents of the said ‘petition’ which has been widely circulated on social media and published by the mainstream media, are frivolous, baseless and are actuated by malice and ill will. These allegations are in my view, the product of an overactive evil imagination, and do not deserve any serious attention.
I wish to state categorically that all the defamatory allegations are outright lies and without any merit whatsoever.
I understand from the media that the Presidency has received the alleged petition. I have my full responses ready for each and every allegation made in the so-called petition. However, in deference to His Excellency the President of the Republic, for whom I have the highest levels of respect, I would respectfully wait to be formally informed by the Presidency before I make my responses public.
I take the opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to the staff of the Electoral Commission, political leaders from the various political parties, and members of the general public for the overwhelming support shown to my family and I so far. I am absolutely certain that once again, history and the truth will vindicate the just.
The political motive hunting would not serve the greater purpose. The 'motiveless malignity' behind this Petition are self-seeking and faceless individuals with the sole motive of satisfying their purely personal vendetta against my person and protecting illegal financial interests.
Finally, the Electoral Commission is an independent governance institution, non- partisan and with full protections for its officials under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. I would wish that the political actors would respect the constitutional framework provided for the Commission and support in upholding the supreme interest of the Commission for the wider interest of our democracy.
Thank you.
Signed
Charlotte Osei (Mrs.)
Chairperson
Electoral Commission Ghana