Mrs. Charlotte Osei the head of the Electoral Commission, is fighting for her professional life. Suffice it to say that her tenure has not been exactly trouble free or peaceful or a walk in the park.
She has been villified, abused, scorned and threatened by politicians who wrongly entertained the misguided notion that she was a shill/a mouthpiece for the opposition NDC. They therefore wanted to cut her down to size.
But her successful prosecution of the 2016 elections, her most crowning professional achievement, proved them wrong. Caught flatfooted by Mrs. Osei’s resounding success, these politicians are seeking other ways to get rid of Mrs. Osei.
And they have found gullible dupes in some disgruntled workers within Mrs. Osei’s outfit, her two deputies, Mr. Amadu Sulley and Madam Georgina Amankwa. These two wannabes are determined to end Mrs Osei’s career no matter what.
The two deputies blinded by mad ambition, accused Mrs. Osei of presiding over a massively corrupt agency. They say Mrs. Osei is irredeemably corrupt, and should therefore be given the boot, sacked. Frivolous claim on the face of it.
Ultimately, they petitioned the President to take action against Mrs. Osei. And, sadly, Mr. Akuffo Addo obliged by forwarding the petition to the Supreme Court where shamefully, Mrs Osei was subjected to a barrage of questions on Monday.
It is unfortunate that matters have come to this, the impeachment of the country’s electoral commissioner, the first time this has ever happened.
I expected the President to know better; he should have dismissed the petition without batting an eye for the sake of national unity and for the simple reason that it is politically motivated and designed to thwart efforts at healing the wounds that were opened by the nasty election campaign last year.
Perhaps Mr. Addo is not aware, but someone ought to let him know that the removal of Madam Osei will have lasting consequences on his presidency and leave a stain on his legacy. This is political vindictiveness, payback time. And no one can’t deny it.
Mr. Addo has made it explicitly clear that he wants the chairperson of the EC out of the way. He is by all accounts not an honest broker. This is a huge political miscalculation on the president’s part.
And lets not forget this very important fact: whoever is picked to head the EC after Mrs. Osei is forced out, will suffer the same fate and will be viewed with suspicion by the NDC and its affiliates. Eventually, should the country be plunged into chaos, all accusing fingers will be pointed at Mr. Addo.
