The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has thrown out the petition by the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) calling for the removal of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa from office.
ASEPA in June 2020, secured an impeachment declaration from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) that Madam Mensa since assuming office had failed to file her asset declaration forms in accordance with the law and must be removed as the Returning Officer of presidential elections in Ghana.
Although CHRAJ noted that the EC Chair subsequently declared her assets after her attention was drawn to it, ASEPA went ahead to petition the Presidency to make Jean Mensa step down from her position.
A statement from the Office of the President rejected ASEPA’s claims and absolved the EC Boss of any criminal act.
“In any event, CHRAJ did not make any adverse findings against the Chairperson as the investigation was terminated and the complaint dismissed after the Chairperson declared her assets on 17th February 2020.”
The statement also added that the Chief Justice did not find any “statute that criminalizes the non-declaration of assets within the stipulated time in the Constitution”.
The Office of the President responded to the petition after the Chief Justice’s determination of whether or not there was a prima facia case to warrant the impeachment of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
The Chief Justice concluded that there was no prima face case to be established.
“Accordingly, I am directed by the President to inform you that your petition has been dismissed”, the statement signed by Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President noted.
It will be recalled that also in June 2020, some aggrieved Ghanaians sought information from Jean Mensa, to determine whether or not to petition the 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.
Among the allegations by the petitioners were “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.”
source:citinews
