EC bosses pose threat to 2020 polls – PNC

The People’s National Convention (PNC) says the 2020 general elections will be jeopardized if the Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson and her two deputies do not abdicate their positions.

The PNC in a statement Thursday, said the country’s electoral body will have the peace of mind to discharge its duties if the three Commissioners are replaced.

“The Electoral Commission is the only key and sensitive institution of the state, mandated by law to conduct free, fair, peaceful and transparent elections [but] we are not safe if the EC commissioners are not working in harmony,” PNC Treasurer Akane Adam said.

Tension has been mounting at the Commission after some workers sent a petition to the president accusing the Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei of some alleged impeachable offences.

The concerned staff claimed the EC boss fraudulently cancelled a contract awarded to Superlock Technologies Limited (STL), a company contracted to supply and manage Biometric Voter Registration machines (BVRs) and Biometric Voter Devices (BVDs).

They also alleged she single-handedly renegotiated the same contract with the vendor without the involvement of key members of the Commission, leading to the award of $21,999,592 contract.

Her action contradicted the Public Procurement Act (PPA), they said.

But Mrs Osei has maintained the claims are “unfounded accusations,” blaming her two deputies, Mrs Georgina Opoku-Amankwaah and Amadu Sulley for the petition.

The three EC chairpersons are being investigated by a Committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo following the establishment of a prima facie case in the matter.

But the PNC said Mrs Osei and his deputies do not deserve to be at the Commission because of their past behaviour and their failure to manage the workers.

"The public acrimony, fights, accusations and insults against one another by the EC commissioners just after the 2016 polls should be enough for an impeachment," the PNC said.