A document sighted by Citi News indicates that she has written to the President asking for a copy of the petition against her.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rcIsMjBnuW89TsXJ6nRev7C2Iy8s4fbf”]The petition Mrs.Osei refers to was presented by a lawyer, Mr. Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang on behalf of the petitioners, who made some 27 allegations against her.

The EC Chairperson also wrote to the Judicial Service on the same matter according to a different letter sighted by Citi News.

She noted that she has “to this day, not been furnished with a copy of the alleged petition.”

“I was provided with a statement of the allegations made against me in a letter from Her Ladyship, the Chief Justice in which she also asked me to respond to the allegations,” she explained.

Mrs. Osei added that the copy of the petition will enable her to seek the “requisite legal advice.”

Petition from angry staff

Some staff of the EC petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo in July 2017, to remove Mrs. Osei from office over allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance as well as abuse of office.

Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election.

The petition from the aggrieved employees follows the loss of some GHc480, 000 from the EC’s Endowment Fund which prompted Mrs.Osei to ask the Commission’s Deputy Chairperson in-charge of Finance and Administration, Georgina Opoku Amankwah and the Finance Director, Dr. Joseph Kweku Asamoah to proceed on leave.

The petition against her, alleged among others the funnelling of GH¢3.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, and the use of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million.

Cause for probe

There has been some merit found in some of the corruption allegations against Mrs. Osei resulting in a prima facie case being established against her.

Her two deputies, Amadu Sulley (in charge of Operations), and Georgina Opoku Amankwa will also have to answer for their alleged roles in the disappearance of the GHc480,000 from the Endowment Fund, among other allegations.

The three EC officials appeared individually before the Chief Justice in the company of their lawyers, at the office of the Judicial Service located at the Supreme Court on Monday.

Indications are that Mrs. Osei will have to only answer to six of the 27 allegations made against her as the others were found to be unfounded.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post EC boss writes to Nana Addo, wants copy of petition against her appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Confirming this, the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, revealed the petitioner to be one Douglas Seidu.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FYwQxFe5l268H7sDu0fxcKDi2ebtYJxf”]Mr. Seidu delivered his petition “around August 18, 2017,” and President Akufo-Addo referred the petition to the Chief Justice on August 29.

“Once a petition has been brought to the Presidency trying to invoke the relevant portions of the Constitution with regards to the removal of the Chairperson of a body like the Electoral Commission, the President has no choice but to forward the petition to the CJ,” Mr. Arhin explained.

Without getting into details, Mr. Arhin outlined some of the grounds of the petition as being “financial misconduct, incompetence, conflict of interest, breaches of the public procurement processes, amongst others. It is an eight-paged petition.”

“He [President Akufo-Addo] has done his part so we will just leave the rest to the Chief Justice to handle. For the Chief Justice, I am sure she has instituted her own processes to handle this,” he added.

Earlier reports from the Daily Guide Newspaper indicated that, at least 15 allegations have been leveled against Mrs. Osei in this new petition.

Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election.

There is already a petition from unnamed EC staff, who are being represented by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei, which is pending before the Chief Justice.

The earlier petition against her, alleged among others the funneling of GH¢3.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, the expenditure of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million.

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By: Sammi Wiafe/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonoline.com/Ghana

The post New petition against Charlotte Osei forwarded to CJ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Instead, he supported calls by the Christian Council of Ghana, which has suggested the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms to address the problems at the EC, and ensure a truce, instead of a process that would air the dirty laundry of the commission.

[contextly_sidebar id=”y3h944OQJv5W70wEuByBACJGYJvFZa0w”]The EC’s tensions came to the fore after some employees of the Commission petitioned President Akufo-Addo to dismiss Charlotte Osei for alleged financial malfeasance.

Among the allegations, the aggrieved employees claimed that Mrs. Osei awarded a GHc 3.9 million contract for work on an office complex without consulting the Commission.

Mrs. Osei rubbished the allegations in a comprehensive response to the employees, and fired some accusations at the Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Operations at the EC, Amadu Sulley.

Prof. Gyampo noted that, such friction was not new to the EC administrations as under the leadership of the immediate past EC boss, Afari Gyan, problems emerged but he always found ways to fix them.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, he said that, “in an attempt to expose some of the rot and some of the things that go on there, you are also expected to do so in a manner that wouldn’t compromise the legitimacy and public confidence in that institution.”

Prof. Gyampo further expressed some disappointment in the response from Mrs. Osei, saying he thought her response lowered the public confidence in the EC, and “made the institution suffer some legitimacy deficit.”

“I thought she would have just come out to say they are malicious fabrications and then leave the rest to those who may be investigating. As it stands now, it seems to me that if we don’t take care, we may be compromising the credibility of our future elections.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Probing EC will hurt its integrity – Prof. Gyampo cautions appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The group, in a statement, indicated that it had written to the EC on the 29th of March, 2017 in this regard.

The group said the letter was the first of a series of actions intended “to push for more transparency in the body politic of Ghana.”

The  CitizenGhana Movement stressed that, its efforts were critical in the overall fight against corruption, and expressed hope that the EC would respect its constitutional rights to information.

“The opaque political party finance system is at the heart of the complex of political patronage and allows some people to be awarded fraudulent contracts as repayments for their campaign contributions,” the statement noted.

If their demands are not met, the group said it “shall not hesitate to proceed to the courts of law to enforce this right.”

Find below the full statement

CITIZENGHANA MOVEMENT DEMANDS DETAILS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE FROM ELECTORAL COMMISSION

On Thursday the 29th of March, 2017, the CitizenGhana Movement (CGM), a civil society group dedicated to the cause of good governance, social justice and social accountability, wrote to the Electoral Commission to demand copies of the annual audited accounts and assets and revenues of all 24 registered political parties.

In the letter, Lolan Ekow Sagoe-Moses, a member of the CitizenGhana Movement and lead applicant in the RIGHT TO INFORMATION CASE (also called the Bus Branding Case), Lolan Sagoe-Moses and 6 Others vrs Honourable Minister of Transport and Attorney General, Suit No HR/0027/2015 demanded:

1. The statements of assets and liabilities, submitted by all registered political parties on the 4th of November 2016 pursuant to Section 14(1) of the Political Parties Act.
2. The returns containing the statement of accounts, source of funding, membership dues paid, contributions or donations in cash or kind, properties and their time of acquisition and audited accounts, of all registered political parties, which were filed on the 1st of June 2016, pursuant to Section 21(1) of the Political Parties Act.

These demands were made pursuant to Article 55(14) of the 1992 Constitution, Section 14 of the Political Parties Act and the constitutional right to information as affirmed in the Bus Branding case.

This letter is the first of a series of actions CGM intends to take this year to push for more transparency in the body politic of Ghana. We at CGM consider this move as critical in the overall fight against corruption.

The opaque political party finance system is at the heart of the complex of political patronage and allows some people to be awarded fraudulent contracts as repayments for their campaign contributions.

We are hopeful that the Electoral Commission shall respect our constitutional right to information and furnish us with the information requested. We shall however not hesitate to proceed to the courts of law to enforce this right should the Electoral Commission fail to grant our request.

We humbly call on all Ghanaians to join us to combat the problem of opaque political party finance and the harmful system of patronage it fuels.

—Signed—

CitizenGhana Movement

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post CitizenGhana demands records of party assets from EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Addressing a press conference on Friday morning, the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, described this figure as disappointing.

“We are pretty disappointed at the turnout so far,” Mrs Osei indicated at the press conference.”Based on the collated results from the 210 constituencies, the provisional turnout for the election is at about 49 percent. This is way below our history in elections so far and it is quite disappointing,” she noted.

In contrast, the last general election in 2012 recorded a turnout of 79.43 percent.

Mrs. Osei however, noted that the Commission is still awaiting figures from 65 constituencies; 25 from the Northern Region, 2 from Upper East Region, 10 from Brong Ahafo Region, 17 from Ashanti Region, 6 from the Eastern Region, 1 from the Volta Region, 16 from the Western Region and 1 from the Central Region.

There were 15, 712, 499 persons registered to vote in the 2016 polls at 28, 992 polling stations across the 275 constituencies of Ghana.

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By: citifomline.com/Ghana

The post #GhElections: Turnout for polls at ‘disappointing’ 49% so far – EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In a statement signed by the Spokesperson of the Mahama campaign, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, the team sought to assure National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters that the party’s flagbearer was in a “comfortable lead” as ballots were being counted.

The team also urged all supporters to “wait for the Electoral Commission as it receives and releases the verified results to the media via its Coalition & Media Centres.”

Most polling station results have been declared and some media outlets have been using the provisional polling centre results available to make some projections as to the overall direction of the elections.

But the Mahama Campaign urged voters to “ignore and treat with contempt, claims by some radio and TV stations announcing who is leading the pack or winning the election based on polling station results that do not equate to a total of three constituencies. “

“We wish to also encourage our supporters to continue to remain calm as the ballots make their way to the constituency collation centres. At this moment, a number of radio stations are announcing polling station results, and not constituency tallies,” the statement added.

Find below the full statement

*JOHN MAHAMA CAMPAIGN URGES SUPPORTERS

TO REMAIN CALM AS RESULTS TRICKLE IN*

The John Mahama 2016 Campaign wishes to congratulate its teeming supporters, sympathisers and the voting public for the impressive turnout to vote for President John Dramani Mahama today.

We recognise also, that the voting process was very smooth and orderly. Voters comported themselves well, despite some isolated incidents and delayed start of voting at a number of polling stations.

We do also acknowledge the decision of the Electoral Commission to extend voting in the Afram Plains South Constituency and re-opening of the polls in Jaman North Constituency tomorrow.

We wish to also encourage our supporters to continue to remain calm as the ballots make their way to the constituency collation centres. At this moment, a number of radio stations are announcing polling station results, and not constituency tallies.

With the details we have from our Parallel Vote Tabulation, President John Dramani Mahama is in a comfortable lead, and we encourage all supporters to wait for the Electoral Commission as it receives and releases the verified results to the media via its Coalition & Media Centres.

Let us continue to ignore and treat with contempt, claims by some radio and TV stations announcing who is leading the pack or winning the election based on polling station results that do not equate to a total of three (3) constituencies.

We thank you for your confidence in the John Dramani Mahama administration and for your vote.

Signed

Joyce Bawah Mogtari

Spokesperson

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ignore polling station-based projections – Mahama campaign team appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

15, 712, 499 registered voters were expected to troop to the polls at 7 am today Wednesday and as expected, thousands of them are still  in queues awaiting the chance to exercise their franchise.

The polling stations without voters at the close of polls however begun the counting process minutes after polls closed.

Only one constituency, Jaman North, has not seen single ballot cast following a disagreement over the voter transfer list which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) claimed was bloated by over 30 names.

After the counting at the polling stations, the figures will be recorded on the ‘pink’ sheets to be taken to the constituency collation centres for collation and eventual declaration of results.

Aside the 275 constituencies been contested for by the 1,158 candidates, seven candidates including the incumbent John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the presidential candidate of the largest opposition party, New Patriotic Party, (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,  will contest the presidential polls.

Also contesting in the presidential elections are the flagbearers of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr. Edward Mahama, the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom.

Jacob Osei Yeboah, who also contested the polls in 2012 is the only independent candidate in the race.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Counting of ballots begins nationwide [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The special voting exercise ended yesterday [Sunday] amidst more reports of registered voters, mostly security personnel, being turned away because their names were missing from the special voting registers in their constituencies nationwide.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OsCHQb4uFrcvXcLEH5QuIk8QPQdyYucY”]The EC is mandated by law to display the special voting register at least 42 days to the day of the exercise.

But the Commission did not do so ahead of the 2016 elections and speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the EC’s Director of Communications admitted that these problems could have been preempted if the EC had displayed the Special Voter’s register ahead of time.

“If you want me to admit for the sake of the discourse, yes,” Mr. Dzakpasu said to the host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle, whose line of questioning suggested the possible complicity of the EC in the special voting complications.

He, however, maintained that getting the electoral process right was the responsibility of all stakeholders in the process and thus advised against playing a blame game as he retorted that “in substance and practice, we all, including the voter, who takes part in special voting has the responsibility to ensure that the right thing is done.”

“…but if you make it convenient and if someone will feel comfortable having it that the Electoral Commission must admit that we did not do it well, so be it,” he added.

This notwithstanding, Mr. Dzakpasu reminded that “the important thing is that, let us as a country and stakeholders focus on how best we can get it right by playing our role as prescribed by the rules and the processes.”

The Commission has since said persons who could not cast their ballot in this year’s special voting exercise can do so on during the general elections on December 7.

The group of persons in this category include those who submitted wrong voter details for the early voting exercise to the Commission hence did not have their names on the special voters’ register list.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We erred in not displaying special voters’ register – EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The first day of the special voting exercise on Thursday, December 1, recorded a turnout rate of 72.69 percent representing 92,231 of 126,875 registered persons, according to provisional figures from the Electoral Commission (EC).

Hundreds of early voters, mostly security personnel, in the various regions, queued at polling stations across the country on Thursday, but could not cast their ballots during the exercise.

Some persons were notified they were supposed to vote outside their original constituencies and were thus turned away by the Returning Officers.

Following this, the EC, at an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on that evening, decided to extend the special voting exercise to today, December 4, to allow persons who couldn’t vote to do so.

The Commission has also reminded that persons whose names are on the special voters’ list will not be allowed to vote on Wednesday, December 7, and must take the opportunity to do so now.

This extension will be for persons whose names were included in the earlier special voters’ list or the updated one provided to political parties.

Persons who transferred their votes and whose names appeared on the special voters’ list, but could not vote on December 1, 2016, were also factored into the extension.

Persons who did not transfer their votes, but whose names appeared on the special voters’ list in the constituency where they are registered to vote, comprise the final category of persons expected to benefit from the extension of the special voting.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Phase 2 of special voting takes place today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The EC in a press release warned that “all voters whose names are included in the special voters’ list are legally part of the absent voters’ list at their original polling stations. Therefore, their bar codes would be deactivated and they will not be able to vote on December 7, 2016.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”puzxXDe4TUlPQitTwtffUUrM15h5G6Zn”]This fate would have befallen hundreds of special voters in the various regions who queued at polling stations across the country on Thursday but could not cast their ballots during the special voting exercise.

Some people who were also supposed to vote outside their original constituencies were turned away by Returning Officers.

But following an emergency Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on Thursday evening, the EC decided to extend the special voting exercise to Sunday, December 4, to allow persons who couldn’t vote to do so.

The extended exercise will be for persons whose names are included in the earlier special voters list or the updated one provided to political parties, the EC said in its statement.

Persons who transferred their vote and whose names appeared on the special voters’ list but could not vote on December 1, 2016 were also factored into the extension.

Persons who did not transfer their vote but whose names appeared on the special voters’ list in the constituency where they are registered to vote, comprise the final category of persons expected to benefit from the extension of the special voting.

Thus the EC urged everyone in “the above listed categories to take advantage of this opportunity to exercise their franchise.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Special voters can’t vote on Dec. 7 – EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.