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Information available to the Daily Statesman indicates that the Chief Justice is to give her verdict imminently in respect of the petitions for the removal from office of the chair of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwah.

The problems at the election management body started with a breakdown of relationships between Mrs Osei and her two deputies. The eventual result was accusations and counter-accusations of abuse of office, breach of procurement laws, corruption and other forms of improprieties.

Following petitions for their removal from office, Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo set up a committee to investigate the three officials for abuse of office, conflict of interest and breach of procurement laws, among other accusations.

Serious breaches
The Daily Statesman is now reliably informed that counsel for both the petitioners and the three embattled EC top appointees have all made their final submissions, and the Chief Justice is set to present her verdict to the nation in the next few days.

The petitioners against Mrs Osei are said to have reiterated allegations of illegal payments, breaches of procurement law and gross misconduct against the EC boss.

They were particularly concerned in their petition about violations of Sections 14 and 15 of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663), as amended by the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914).

They are said to have insisted that the serious breaches of law and misconduct on the part of the EC boss were partly due her incompetence.

Another claim against the EC boss is the unilateral appointment of a private law firm for the commission without recourse to the commission or the Public Procurement Act.

She is also alleged to have authorised payments of huge sums of money to the law firm, which had no formal or approved contract with the EC.

Scheming
Another issue said to have been pushed against the EC boss was the alleged award of a contract to the tune of $22,340,814 to the Israeli-owned firm STL, again without recourse to the commission or the PPA.

The two other commissioners – Amadu Sulley, in charge of operations, and Georgina Opoku Amankwah, in charge of corporate services, both of whom have had running battles with Mrs Osei – also face various accusations, including misuse of funds belonging to the commission, abuse of office and corruption.

The EC boss, who was alleged to have instigated the petition against her deputies, also accused the duo of deliberately scheming to frustrate her stay in office.

In her initial response to the allegations against her, the EC boss openly accused Opoku Amankwah of signing contracts worth over US$40 million without her knowledge and authorisation between May and September 2015.

She also turned her attention on Amadu Sulley and said that apart from transferring votes illegally in the run-up to the 2016 general election, he also pocketed a large amount of money from certain political parties.