Private legal practitioner Maurice Ampaw has stated that, President Akufo-Addo was bound by recommendations by the five-member committee set up by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo to dismiss the EC Chairperson from office.
EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei was on Thursday, June 28, 2018, dismissed alongside with her two deputies Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa by President Akufo-Addo.
According to the statement from the Presidency, the decision by President Akufo-Addo was based on some recommendations from a committee set up by the Chief Justice to investigate allegations levelled against the EC Chairperson Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwa.
However, commenting on the dismissal of the EC Chairperson on Otec FM’s Breakfast show ‘Nyansapo’ on Friday June 29, 2018, Lawyer Ampaw clarified that President Akufo-Addo had no option than to act based on the recommendations of the committee.
Mr. Maurice Ampaw told the progeamm’s host Captain Koda that the president bound by the 1992 constitution to act according to the recommendation adding that failure to act on the outcome of the CJ’s findings will amount to blatant breach of Ghana’s constitution.
“It is what they said about each other, the evidence they provided against each other, and the decision by their respective supporters to compile all the pieces of evidence into separate petitions which their own loyalists filed that triggered the constitutional process which eventually led to their removal, after full hearings. The President had a simple perfunctory but important role to play and that role was strictly provided by the Constitution.
“It started with infighting at the very top of the Commission shortly after the Dec 2016 elections. All gloves were off. The EC Chairperson and her two deputies began throwing mud at each other – publicly! They accused each other of corruption and abuse of power. They were soon joined by staff members of the EC.
“First, he had no choice but to pass on the petitions to the Chief Justice once received. Secondly, he had no option, per the Constitution, but to act according to the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry once received. This is the truth and the whole truth according to the facts and the law.”
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
