General News of Thursday, 14 December 2017
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2017-12-14
Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid
Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid has rebuffed claims by some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), the government is plotting the removal of Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, from office.
Speaking on Joy FM, Thursday, December 14, 2017, Mr. Hamid described attempts at politicising the matter as “very, very unfortunate.”
Mrs. Osei is facing investigations by a committee set up by the Chief Justice following accusations levelled against her staff of the elections governing body who petitioned the president for her removal.
She is also facing the same committee after the President, Nana Akufo-Addo forwarded a petition by some staff at the EC for her impeachment in relation to alleged corruption and mismanagement.
Her two deputies are to also answer for their alleged roles in the disappearance of some GHS480,000 from the EC’s Endowment Fund, among other allegations.
But Abraham Amaliba, a member of the legal team of the opposition NDC is reported to have said there will be chaos in the country if the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei, is removed from office.
“…What has the woman done? She has declared election results in your favour and so what again do they want from her that they are using the process to harass her? Where are the CDDs? Where are the Occupy Ghanas?
“If it were to be the NDC government all these people would be speaking by now. Where is Emile Short? Where is Professor Martey? This country will burn and we will see where all of us will be and so they should continue doing it,” he said on Accra FM.
But Mustapha Hamid said the government had no hand in the issues leading to the constitution of the committee to investigate the EC Boss.
He said it is public knowledge that Mrs. Osei and her two deputies – Amadu Sulley and Georgina Amankwa –do not have a good working relationship and expressed surprise that the government is being accused of hatching a plan to persecute one of the three.
“What about the two deputies? They are also under investigation, too, [so] why are they not saying that they are being hounded,” Hamid interrogated.
He added: “Everybody knows that this is happening because of their own public disagreements.”
Commenting on claims government is trying to push Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Assiama, Mustapha Hamid said the development is mainly an issue between the deputy Governor and his employers at the central bank.
Reports suggest Dr Asiama may be having challenges working with the Akufo-Addo administration and some of his colleagues because he is perceived as an “outsider”.
According to Mustapha Hamid, the current happenings at the central bank “have everything to do with the deputy governor and his employers” therefore the government would leave that for management of the bank to handle.
He, however, said the government will intervene only when it becomes necessary.
Listen to the full discussion:
