The 27 claims made against Charlotte Osei and the responses - Claim 14
Article Index
Claim 14: “Mrs. Charlotte Osei persistently antagonized the then opposition, NPP prior to the 2016 General Elections to the extent she never met any of the leadership who sought audience with her to discuss issues of concern. This contrary to her over patronage of the then ruling NDC including her attendance of Cabinet Meetings.”
Response 14: It is surprising that the ‘concerned staff” are also spokesperson for the NPP with seeming intimate knowledge of the grievances of the NPP. However, contrary to the impressions of the petitioners, the leadership of the NPP is in a position to confirm several meetings held with Mrs. Osei to discuss their concerns ahead of the 2016 elections. Indeed, in one of those meetings with the two Deputy Chairpersons, it was confirmed that the Deputy Chairperson Operations had unilaterally and without the knowledge of the Chairperson or the Commission created over 1000 (one thousand) additional polling stations for the district level elections of September 1, 2015.
Mrs. Osei has NEVER attended a cabinet meeting and shown absolutely no patronage to the NDC. This is the most infantile of allegation as surely, records are available of attendance at Cabinet meetings at the Presidency. The petitioners would be compelled to provide evidence in support of these allegations.
Claim 15: “Mrs. Charlotte Osei frequently travels out of the jurisdiction without informing either the Commission or any of her deputies.”
Response 15: The Chairperson does not report to the two deputies. These are deputies who constantly show insubordination, do not come to work or come to work when they feel like, go on leave and travel without the knowledge and approval of the Chairperson. They clearly do not respect their office or their role within the organisation. Corporate governance procedures are clearly disregarded in their operational behavior.
As a ground for impeachment, it would also be proper for the Deputy Chairpersons to be impeached for all the times they have taken unauthorized leaves and travelled within and outside the jurisdiction, without the approval of the Chairperson.
Claim 16: “Mrs. Charlotte Osei harbored personal vendetta against a vendor by name Messrs Buck Press Limited on the premise that he belongs to NPP. She categorically made this statement in an interview with BBC. In view of this, she unilaterally without recourse to the Commission removed the company’s name from the list of vendors already approved by PPA to do business contrary to the Public Procurement Act.”
Response 16: The BBC interview transcripts are available and would show that Mrs. Osei never made any comments that showed a personal vendetta against Messrs. Buck Press or mentioned his party affiliation which is unknown to her. The petitioners would be required to provide documentary evidence of these allegations.
Messrs Buck Press was awarded 2 contracts by the Commission in 2016; 1 contract in 2015; 2 contracts in 2014; 1 contract in 2013; and 2 contracts in 2012. Messrs Buck Press was one of four companies who put in a tender for the printing and supply of carbonised forms. The contract was awarded to Aerovote Ghana on the basis of the recommendations of the Tender Evaluation committee report submitted to the Chairperson (copy attached and marked ‘CO16A’).
The Chairperson is NOT a member of the tender evaluation committee. The tender evaluation committee was chaired by the director of finance and included the Directors of HR, IT and Electoral Services at the Commission. There is no record of the evaluation committee recommending that the contract should be awarded to Buck Press and that the Chairperson flouted such recommendation. Further, the Chairperson was informed by the evaluation committee that Aerovote was the only company that met the security and form personalization requirements and with the capacity to print the carbonized forms IN GHANA. Consequently, for the first time in our electoral history, political party representatives could monitor the process of printing of carbonized forms that led to higher levels of transparency and the integrity of our electoral process. The Chairperson has no personal issue against Messrs. Buck Press. The Commission has maintained the same seven main printers it has always done business with and the Chairperson maintains a cordial relationship with all the printing companies.
Claim 17: “The Chairperson, Mrs. Charlotte Osei assuming Office has consistently attempted to demonise her predecessor, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and taking steps to de-recognise the legacy of her predecessor.”
Response 17: The Chairperson has always shown the highest levels of respect and admiration for her predecessor and she maintains a very warm relationship with Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and his family. Indeed, in most interviews she has granted, she has always paid tribute to the excellent legacy left by her predecessor particularly in the area of putting in place structures that support and enhance credible and transparent elections. In any case, assuming without admitting that this allegation was true, how does this become a ground for impeachment of the Chairperson of the EC under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana?
Claim 18: “Mrs. Charlotte Osei has consistently approved for payment of $76,000 United States Dollars to an IT company, Dream Oval Limited without contract contrary to the Financial Administration Act.”
Response 18: The contract with Dream Oval was funded by the USAID and awarded in line with USAID procurement policies. The USAID has not complained of any breaches of policies and has agreed to pay the additional costs necessitated by the additional security infrastructure that Dream Oval had to put in place for the Commission’s website. There has been no breach of any law or policy put in place by USAID with regard to this matter. This is therefore, another baseless allegation founded on mischievous imaginations.
Claim 19: “The Chairperson through her arrogant posture brought embarrassment to the Commission by refusing to grant audience to the members of the National Peace Council and the leader of the Africa Union Delegation Mr. Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa during the 2016 General Election.”
Response 19: It is patently untrue that the chairperson refused to meet President Mbeki and the National Peace Council. The Peace Council came on an unscheduled visit to the office at a time the Chairperson was away from the office. There were subsequent conversations and meetings with the Chair of the National Peace Council, which the Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante can confirm.
The Chairperson met President Thabo Mbeki on December 1, 2016 at the Movenpick Hotel at the request of President Mbeki. There is pictorial evidence of the meeting as posted by president Mbeki on social media (please see attached and marked ‘CO19A’). There were also several phone conversations with President Mbeki before and after the December elections. Indeed, after the elections, President Mbeki called personally to congratulate the Chairperson on her warmth, hard work, exemplary leadership and excellent organization of the elections. It would be most helpful for the petitioners to establish basic facts available as matters of public record in their quest to vilify the Chairperson.
Claim 20: “The Chairperson is managerially and administratively inept. She lacks managerial experience or capacity and knowledge of corporate governance structures and regulatory compliance. She has no respect for the organizational structure of the Commission to the extent that she deals directly with directors and senior officers without recourse to the deputies. The Chairperson lacks the requisite managerial skills in public administration. This point needs no elucidation since the current leadership style is publicly known.”
Response 20: The Chairperson’s managerial competence is evident from her career track record and the reports of local and international election observer missions as well as the commendations from regional directors and senior staff of the EC on the organization of the 2016 elections. Her competence is also shown by many positive changes at the Commission since the tenure of the current Chairperson.
The Chairperson will deal directly with directors when a Deputy spends half of the working week outside of Accra, particularly in a busy election year when decisions have to be taken quickly. The Chairperson has attempted to put in place structures at the Commission to ensure that the Commission is managed in an efficient manner. The Commission has no disciplinary committee or effective disciplinary processes, no audit review committee or processes, no structured management meetings, and no clear financial and administrative procedures and manuals. This is unpardonable.
Financial statements and bank statements are not submitted to the Chairperson or the Commission. Budgets and audit queries are not formally presented to the Chairperson or the Commission. Approvals and payments are made on the blind side of the chairperson and in excess of approved limits. The attempts by the Chairperson to ensure proper structures and financial management systems have led to disputes with the deputy Chairpersons and staff who benefit financially and illegally from the chaos. The Chairperson refuses to superintend a system that engenders endemic corruption and poor administrative structures.
It should be noted that all these actions amounting to financial malfeasance and impropriety would be documented and submitted to the requisite authority for investigations.
Claim 21: “The Chairperson had poor human relations not befitting of any leader in public space.”
Response 21: The Chairperson has a warm and friendly relationship with all staff and maintains an open door policy. The Chairperson only has difficulties with staff that do not want to see the progress of the Commission and want to continue to preserve their illegal commercial kingdoms for personal gain within the Commission.
In 2015, attempts by the Chairperson to stop district electoral officers from inserting ghost names on the list of officials recruited for the 2015 district level elections, to enable them appropriate the allowances for the officials resulted in the Chairperson being reported to the BNI for investigation. In the report attached hereto dated September 23, 2015 and marked ‘CO21A’, staff, according to the BNI, admit to a culture of misappropriation of funds meant for electoral staff, and assert that this practice is a ‘convention’ at the Commission.
A work culture that permits some staff to steal with such boldness is extremely unfortunate and cannot be allowed to continue.
Claim 22: “The Chairperson has submitted an estimate of over GHS1million for the renovation of the official bungalow for the Chairperson without recourse to the Commission or appropriate staff in the Commission.”
Response 22: The estimate for renovation of a house indicates the level of work required to be done in the house. It is not a contract and there is no breach of the law occasioned by submitting an estimate. It is in fact the Deputy Chair Operations that is in breach of process reflected in his actions in 2015 when without recourse to the Chairperson, the Deputy Chair Operations verbally authorized a Director to undertake repairs to the Chairman’s official residence for the use of the said Director.
Upon submission of the estimate of works done, it would have been expected that the Deputy Chair CS who oversees administration, would have started a proper procurement process for the renovation of the Chairperson’s residence. To date, no work has been initiated and the Chairperson is still unable to move into the official residence two years after appointment. In the same vein, the Chairperson was never provided with an office three months after joining the Commission. She had to initiate the moves herself to get suitable office premises and furnish it personally.
Claim 23: “The Chairperson has constituted herself into the Commission’s Tender Review Committee contrary to the Public Procurement Act. She singularly chairs the Entity Tender Committee and Tender Review Committee at the same time. This puts her into conflict of interest position and this is a clear breach of the public Procurement Act.”
Response 23: The Chairperson’s headship of the Commission’s Entity Tender Committee (ETC) is in line with the law, commission policy and was a decision taken at a Commission meeting after its review of the UNDP commissioned assessment report on the EC. That report highlighted major breaches of procurement law and poor procurement and financial management regime at the Commission prior to the appointment of the Chairperson. To establish conflict of interest, it needs to be shown exactly what actions the Chairperson has taken in her capacity as head of the ETC which show that her personal interest have conflicted with her official position. The fictitious petitioners have failed to establish this.
