The suspended Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has dismissed assertions that she should have jumped before she was pushed.

Ms Lauretta Vivian Lamptey said it would have been the height of irresponsibility to have resigned.

She said this in her first public comments after her suspension from office by the presidency.

The embattled Commissioner was suspended this week, a decision President John Dramani Mahama saidwas on the advice of the Judicial Council and pursuant to Article 146 (10) (b) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The statement quoted the Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani as saying, “the suspension follows the establishment of a prima facie case against Ms. Lamptey by the Chief Justice, and the setting up of a five (5)-member committee to investigate complaints made against her.”

The suspension, Mr. Bani noted, is to protect the integrity of the enquiry.

Ms. Lamptey had been chastised by politicians, lawyers and civil society groups for acting in a manner that was inconsistent with the values for which CHRAJ stood.

Media reports of the expenditure of $4,200 monthly rent on her accommodation attracted public opprobrium for the human rights and administrative justice Commissioner.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam Adoagyiri Frank Annor Dompreh and politician Richard Nyamah both petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to remove Ms Lamptey from office.

The MP said as head of an institution mandated to “to investigate complaints of violations of fundamental rights and freedoms, injustice, corruption, abuse of power…” amongst others, Ms Lamptey could not continue to be in office when there were serious allegations of wanton abuse of office against her.

Consistent with the country’s laws, the petitions were forwarded to the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood who set up a committee to look into the claims of the petitioners.

That established a prima facie case against Ms. Lamptey.

This heightened the calls for her suspension.

Some suggested that in the midst of all the negative media publicity, she should simply have resigned in the interest of salvaging the sinking image of the institution.

But speaking on Joy FM’S Super Morning Show Friday, Ms. Lamptey said the suggestions were misplaced.

“That would have been completely out of order,” she said.

If you are the head of an institution and there is an accusation, you do not jump ship, you stay and supervise investigations into same, she insisted.

This, according to her, was particularly so because the rent was not her personal decision but that of the Commission. She said it was strange that all the media publications made it seem the matters pertaining to her accommodation were her personal matters.

“It would not have been proper for me to step aside and leave the commission with that attack, that criticism; I thought it was very important, first of all to have an audit, because that is actually the way to clear both the name of the institution and an individual; to step aside and leave it not investigated is like hearing that is a mess, you are supposed to be in the centre mess and you don’t want to stay and make sure that that mess is cleaned up or shown to not be a mess; I thought that would be highly irresponsible,” she explained.

In fact, “I never contemplated resigning,” she added.

A five-member committee Chaired by Supreme Court judge, Justice Anin Yeboah, is now investigating the claims made against the Commissioner by the petitioners.