Public advocacy group, FixTheCountry Movement say their petition for the removal of the Electoral Commissioner and her two deputies, have been acknowledged by the President and the Chief Justice accordingly.
In a statement circulated on Tuesday, the group disclosed that since their petition has been welcomed by the appropriate quarters, they are waiting for the next line of action, in accordance with law.
“Earlier today, 18 January 2022, we the 46 Ghanaians who petitioned the Chief Justice, through the President, initiating processes for the impeachment of the Chair and Deputies of the Electoral Commission in the connection of the disenfranchisement of the people of Santrokofi, Lolobi, Akpafu and Likpe, received responding letters from the Offices of the President and of the Chief Justice.
Through his letter, the President has acknowledged receipt of the petition and confirmed that it has forwarded the petition to the Chief Justice to commence the process for impeaching the impugned officers of the Electoral Commission.
For his part, the Chief Justice in his letter, informed the petitioners that he has initiated the impeachment process and has accordingly informed the impugned officers of the Electoral Commission of this step”, the statement said.
It will be recalled that on January 10, the FixTheCountry Movement, announced that they had filed a petition for the removal of the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa and her two deputies; Dr Bossman Eric Asare and Samuel Tettey.
In a statement signed by the lead petitioner, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the group said their petition is due to the disenfranchisement of residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL) in the 2020 Parliamentary elections.
To this effect, the group presented a 24-paged petition with 19 appendixes to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The petition was undersigned by a total of 46 individuals comprising lawyers, academics, students, public and private sector employees, unemployed and homeless Ghanaians, cutting across all political persuasions and ethnicity.
The petitioners also explained that their petition was in connection with the intentional denial of the right to vote of the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe in the 2020 general parliamentary elections. Adding that, “the actions of the impugned officials, if considered in context and in light of their preceding and subsequent conduct, meets the threshold of stated misbehavior and, or incompetence as required under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution for the removal of these officials”.
A week after submitting their petition, the group has disclosed that their petition has been noted pending further processes. Regarding the next line of action, the group said they are looking forward to “the full impeachment phase of the process before the 5-member Committee that will soon and subsequently be established by the Chief Justice”.
Meanwhile, the petitioners have indicated that they cannot disclose the full contents of their petition due to previous rulings by the Supreme Court, which bars them from revealing same. According to them, even though they are compelled to comply with the directive of the apex court, they find it “bizarre”.
“The Supreme Court has in a string of decisions held that the contents of a petition brought under Article 146 of the Constitution cannot be made public in order to protect the privacy interests of the Article 146 office holders. While the Petitioners find it bizarre that the Supreme Court will aid public office holders to assert non-existent personal privacy interests in grave matters of public interest and in connection with the performance of their official duties, they have reticently agreed to embargo the release of the full content of the petition, and the correspondences received for the meantime”, the statement concluded.
Source : Myjoyonline