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Some aggrieved Ghanaians are seeking for information from the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, to determine whether or not to petition President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to remove her from office.
In a statement, the lawyer for these persons, Chris A. Ackummey of BCMS Consulting, cited 11 reasons for their demand for the removal of the EC Chair from office pending an official written response from her outfit within two weeks.
“My clients intimate that they voted in previous elections conducted by the Electoral Commission and now fear being disenfranchised if you are allowed to continue with the current plan to compile a new voters’ register. A plan which the national House of Chiefs, Clergy, Clerics, Civil Society Organizations, Federation of Labour, political parties and well-meaning Ghanaians have cautioned you against. The allegations for which responses are sought, all of which if proven, will make you unfit to hold the office you currently occupy.”
Among the allegations by the petitioners are “gross incompetence, refusal of birth certificate and voters ID card for registration, illegal Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings, procurement breaches, defiance of COVID-19 restrictions and the endangering of millions of lives through a registration exercise.”
They warned that any attempt to re-register voters during the COVID-19 pandemic will endanger their lives hence their threat to resort to legal means to have the Chairperson removed if they are not satisfied with the responses received from Jean Mensa.
“…My clients will submit their petition to the President if the EC fails to satisfactorily address the concerns stated,” the statement from the group threatened.
Already, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has sued the Commission over its attempts to compile a new register.
The NDC argues in its suit that the EC lacks the power to go ahead with its plans because it can only “compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law”.
The opposition party in its case is also praying the court to declare as illegal the decision of the EC not to use the old voter ID cards for identification fin the compilation of the new register.
The NDC claimed that the decision which is without any justification is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and contrary to article 296 of the 1992 Constitution.
On the back of this, the Supreme Court has directed the EC to explain why the old voter ID card has been removed from the list of identification particulars for the yet to be compiled new voters’ register. Read the full statement below:
