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Politics of Thursday, February 18, 2021
Source: FM class
2021-02-18
President of EC, Jean Mensa
Some petitioners who want the president of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, to be removed from his post, have said that they will begin to picket indefinitely in the Presidency, the headquarters of the EC and the Supreme Court as of Wednesday, February 24, 2021.
This was contained in a notice to the Greater Accra Regional Police Command on Wednesday February 17, 2021.
According to the petitioners, the planned picket is intended to draw the attention of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to act on “our Article 146 petition demanding the removal of Ms. Jean Adukwei Mensa from her post as Chairperson of the Commission. Electoral”.
The notice continued: “The President, upon receiving an Article 146 petition, is expected to act as a conveyor belt by immediately forwarding it to the Chief Justice for further action.”
“The president has not done this since he received our request on January 21, 2021.”
“The pickets will be three days a week from Wednesday to Friday from February 24, 2021, until our Article 146 is acted upon,” indicates the notice to the Regional Police Command.
In addition, he declared that aware of “the security protocols of COVID-19, there will be a maximum of 25 peaceful citizens picketing each place.”
On Thursday, January 21, 2021, a private citizen, Mr. Elikem Kotoko, asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove the head of the EC.
According to the private citizen, the petition is based on “the declared misconduct of the president of the Electoral Commission.”
The Petition stated: “The current leadership under the presidency of Ms. Jean Adukwei Mensa knowingly created constitutional crises by their actions and inactions in the run-up to the 2020 presidential elections, as they ignored the precautions and advice of various interested parties on the adverse results and implications of their actions and acts of omission. “
He noted that the EC president, in a letter dated June 4, 2020 with a copy to the president, gave the Council of State an opportunity “in the hope of avoiding this action of Article 146 for his removal,” but he refused to reply “making this instant request unavoidable.
“By means of this Petition and in accordance with Article 146, the President is obliged to refer to the immediate attention of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with the sole purpose of establishing the corresponding Committee, to thoroughly investigate the complaints made in the Petition by individuals and named organizations, to bring a case against the President of the Electoral Commission that ultimately leads to the removal of Ms. Jean Adukwei Mensa from her post according to the Petition “
The private citizen noted: “The petition is based on the declared misconduct of the President of the Electoral Commission, not limited to gross incompetence, prejudice, procurement violations and bad corporate governance practices.”
The petition also listed some cases resulting from the incompetence of the Mensa-led CE, biases and a bad corporate governance posture, as “alleged adverse positions and biases.”
He stressed that “there has been a breakdown in consensus building with stakeholders by the EC led by Jean Mensa and the consequent marginalization of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).”
Furthermore, he went on to say that the EC led by Mensa “created a parallel advisory body, the Eminent Advisory Committee, which has largely disappeared and has proven irrelevant to the challenges that arose in the course of the Commission’s work that led to the crisis”.
