Mrs Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission must be an enigma.
Last week, the first woman to head the Commission announced the disqualification of 13 Presidential Aspirants and conjured a confusion which repercussion will resonate all the way to the December 7 vote.
On Friday, an Accra High Court, Presided over by Mr. Eric Kyei Baffour, overturned the expulsion of Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum from the ballot paper by ordering the Electoral Commission and its Chairperson to allow the Presidential Candidate of the Progressive people’s Party to correct the so-called errors on his Presidential nomination papers, which would make it possible for Dr Ndoum to contest the polls.
The defeat at the High Court, gave the EC chair a bloody nose. It opened the way for a flurry of law suits to follow.
Yesterday, Citizen Vigilante, Mr. Martin Amidu, the respected former Attorney-General entered the fray and suggested that the disqualification of as many as 13 Presidential Candidate could be a gargantuan scheme by Mrs. Osei and her aides at the Commission to rig the vote.
Read the lips of Mr. Amidu: “The conduct of the Commissioner in unlawfully disqualifying 13 aspiring presidential candidates appears to confirm the perception that she came to her job with the unconstitutional agenda of compelling the electorate to make a choice between the two major political parties (the NDC and the NPP) who normally contest all Parliamentary seats as well) at this year’s Presidential Elections to demonstrate her perceived ability to organize a free and fair election without petitions.
“Such an agenda is subversive of Article 3 and Chapter 7 of the Constitution, dealing with the representation of the people.
“In Africa, such an arrangement provides and facilitates the ability of incumbent Governments to use the Executive Power and resources of the state in rigging the elections.”
The Chronicle has always suspected that Mrs. Osei was brought to occupy the EC chair to prosecute an agenda which ties in with the wishes of those who sprang her on Ghanaians, without any evidence of her competence on the job.
It is a fact that Mrs Osei was the Chairperson of the National Commission on Civic Education. But beyond that fact, she and the Commission were largely unanimous. In other words, there is no evidence that she has had any track record to inform Ghanaians that she could effectively discharge her mandate without fear or favour.
Since assuming duty at the Electoral Commission, controversy has dogged her tenure of leadership. The way and manner she shrugged off people’s concerns over the decision to jettison the Commission’s original logo, featuring this nation’s Coat-Of-Arms, in favour of a school boy’s art work with crayon, was very contemptuous of the people whose taxes go to oil her comfortable life-style.
With all the controversy raging over the Commission’s decision to disqualify 13 Presidential aspirants and raging court cases, the conventional wisdom is for the Commission to avoid a row with the media.
Instead, Mrs. Osei and her Commission decided to snub the importance of the media in the run-up to the December 7 vote and the actual vote itself.
Yesterday, the Electoral Commission asked all media houses wishing to cover the December 7 elections to pay before being allowed to cover the vote.
An official statement signed by Mr. Eric Dzakpasu, Head of Communications of the Electoral Commission, said specifically thus: “Accreditation would be given to ONLY those who have formally PAID A FEE to be determined by the Commission.”
Our Chairperson and her Commission have gone mad again. The Chronicle will like to assure Mrs. Osei that no media house in Ghana will pay a cedi to inform Ghanaians on who would be their next leader.
As is the norm in all civilized societies, The Chronicle will apply for the right to be accredited to cover the elections.
But let Nigerian-born Charlotte Osei be told that we would not be intimidated by her antics. Covering the elections is a right for all accredited news outfits.
We would not like to believe that the Commission is so broke that it needs registration fees from Ghanaian news organizations to be able to organize the elections.
We would not and shall not pay (Yentua). It is unfortunate but it looks like the commission and its chairperson have gone mad again!
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