The 27 claims made against Charlotte Osei and the responses - Claim 23
Article Index
Claim 24: “The chairperson since assumption of office does not know any regional or district of the Electoral Commission. She has blatantly refused to visit any of the offices of the Commission citing security reasons. Surprisingly, since her assumption to duty, she has never visited any of the offices of the deputies.”
Response 24: The Chairperson has visited as many offices as time constraints in a busy election year would permit. As with all large organizations, the Chairperson in her leadership is required to prioritize major issues around clear priorities within the Commission. At the time of the appointment of the Chairperson, the strategic and organizational priorities did not allow for significant local travel to the regions. Security has never been a cited reason for the failure to travel and proof of this would be requested from the petitioners. As with all large organisations, the Chairperson is required to allow the responsible leadership to keep her informed of the needs of the organisation whilst she may not personally be able to visit every office – it is with this knowledge of the deplorable state of district and regional offices, and in some cases, no district offices at all, that the Chairperson commissioned the construction of 100 district offices due to be completed this year.
In the Chairperson’s short tenure of 24 months at the Commission, she has supervised the conduct of two national elections and 4 by-elections and undertaken significant travel related to Commission work and AAEA obligations. Whilst the Chairperson regrets not being in a position to visit each and every station and district office, the nature of constraints of time and organisation priorities she has been unable to do so – however it is clearly the responsibility of the Deputy Chairperson of Operations to do so.
The Chairperson has visited the offices of her deputies. In any case, it is baffling why this issue should be of major concern to the ‘concerned staff” of the Commission, and be elevated to an impeachable offence and of greater importance to staff than the security of their retirement funds and their general well being.
Claim 25: “On the issue of Staff Endowment Fund she blatantly refused to meet the Senior Staff Association and the Union in the presence of the deputies and by extension the Commission. The allegations against the Deputy Commissioners and other staff have not been brought before the Commission only to surface at EOCO. The Chairperson cause the said auditing of the Endowment Fund without recourse to the Commission. The said audit report was not brought to the attention of the relevant persons for their comments or responses in line with best practice of auditing standards.”
Response 25: The Chairperson has had many, many meetings with the Senior Staff Association (SSA) and Union executives on the issue of the endowment fund. The president of the SSA Mr. Joseph Addo Boateng and Mr. Charles Botchey, union chair can confirm this. Indeed, she has never refused a meeting with the two bodies to discuss the endowment fund issue. The staff bodies are aware of her tireless efforts to resolve the issues regarding the endowment fund monies since November 2015. The Chairperson wrote letters to the retired Director of Finance and Chief Accountant in February 2016 seeking their input towards a resolution of the issue. Further, she commissioned an internal audit report into the Fund in March 2016. These have all yielded no conclusions, as the payment vouchers to support the fact that the endowment fund monies were used for operational purposes were never provided.
Claim 26: “The Chairperson has lost popularity, legitimacy and touch with the staff and some members of the Commission. She has failed to manage the Commission as a corporate entity.”
Response 26: Legitimacy is conferred by law and cannot be lost simply on baseless, frivolous allegations that are lacking in substance, not factual, and actuated by malice. The Chairperson has consistently delivered on her mandate in an exemplary manner as reflected by the several commendations received by her from the international and local community on the successful elections held in 2016.
The Chairperson is responsible for leadership of an organization mandated by the law and subject to the law. The rules of engagement are clearly defined in the law and corporate governance is a critical component to the successful operation of the Commission. Delivery of this requires that the leadership take unpopular decisions to ensure that the broader needs of the Commission and the people of Ghana are placed ahead of the desires of corrupt, unscrupulous individuals with the sole desire to enrich themselves at the expense of our Democracy. Where there is an endemic culture of corruption and the Chairperson is attempting to eradicate same, clearly she will not be expected to be popular with the beneficiaries of the corrupt system. Where leadership of the Commission seeks popularity, either with staff or external stakeholders, then leadership of the Commission would be failing in its duty to the people of Ghana and breaching the oaths of office that they have sworn to on appointment.
Claim 27: “The Chairperson, Mrs. Charlotte Osei unilaterally awarded a contract of about $25,000 to a South African company, Quazar Limited to change and redevelop the Commission’s logo under the guise of rebranding without going to tender contrary to the Public Procurement Act.”
Response 27: The decision to prepare a strategic plan and rebrand the Commission was a decision of the full commission at a meeting. Quazar was selected out of three companies and contracted by the UNDP to assist the Commission complete its Strategic Plan and rebranding. The UNDP was very happy with the services of Quazar and the UNDP has not submitted any complaints of any breaches in the award of contract process. Indeed, representatives of Quazar had several meetings and workshops with senior staff and members of the Commission. It is therefore unclear the basis for the complaints that the Chairperson unilaterally engaged the services of Quazar. In addition, Quazar was not paid US25,000. Quazar was paid about GHS23,470 as supported by the documents attached and marked ‘CO27A’. It would be most helpful if the petitioners would get basic facts right.
FURTHER PARTICULARS
28. It is worth pointing out, that while the Chairperson is persistently accused of arrogance and taking unilateral decisions, there is ample evidence of extreme arrogance, ineptitude and blatant breaches of the law by the deputy Chairpersons. A few examples will suffice here:
I. The Deputy Chairperson CS has signed contracts worth over GHS40m without the knowledge and authorization of the Chairperson between July-September 2015. Payments were also made on these contracts in excess of her approval limits and again, without the knowledge and authorization of the Chairperson. This is illegal, criminal and a breach of the policies of the Commission and the laws of Ghana. The supporting documents would be submitted to the relevant investigative agencies for their further action.
II. In June 2017, the annual leave of Deputy Chairperson Operations was approved by the Deputy Chairperson CS without recourse to the Chairperson and signed on behalf of Chairperson by Deputy Chairperson CS while she herself was on leave. This is clearly symptomatic of poor knowledge of corporate governance and managerial ineptitude. Indeed, the Deputy Chairperson CS has arrogated to herself the powers of the Chairperson, convening commission meetings and taking other ultra vires decisions in clear breach of the Law.
III. The Deputy Chairperson CS went on an unauthorised leave from May 19 - June 19 2017 without notice to the Chairperson and without prior approval. A sick leave note was subsequently submitted to the Director of HR.
IIII. While on leave in June 2017, the Deputy Chairperson without authorization and notice to the Chairperson, approved 2015 financial statements of the Commission, an increase in the amount for fuel coupons (beyond budgeted levels) and without prior knowledge and authorization of the Chairperson or the Commission. Clearly, there is ample evidence of poor knowledge of corporate governance, rules of public service financial management and general incompetence.
V. The poor financial management systems within the Commission are systemic. In some cases, Commission funds are paid into personal accounts of staff members at the regional offices.
VI. A surreptitious attempt was made to remove the Chairperson of the Commission from the GIFMIS platform to enable payments to continue to be made on the blind side of the Chairperson.
VII. The Deputy Chairperson Operations has persistently instructed officials to carry out illegal vote transfers on the Voter management System in clear breach of the law and operational policies of the Commission. Such actions have major implications for the integrity of the work of the Commission and constitute abuse of office.
VIII. The Deputy Chairperson Operations collected funds above GHS6m (Six million Ghana cedis) in cash from some political parties for the organization of party primaries without recourse to the structures of the Commission, and without the involvement of the finance department of the Commission. Political party primaries were treated as a private commercial project by the Deputy Chairperson Ops, with funds paid directly into the personal accounts of key staff for functions to be performed for party primaries. An internal audit report highlighting widespread malfeasance in the conduct of party primaries under the supervision of the Deputy Chairperson Operations is attached and marked ‘CO28A’. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.
It is clear from the manner in which these allegations have been laid – in the court of public opinion – based on no facts and only malicious intent of persons protecting corrupt and unscrupulous acts. These acts enrich solely the practitioners of these acts, and there is no intent to abide by the law of the land nor truly be of service to the people of Ghana. There is clearly, no established case of fraud or abuse of office made against the Chairperson. The public purse, should be, and must be protected, even at the EC. The independence granted the Commission under the Constitution does not mean immunity to flout all the financial laws of Ghana, waste public funds and unlawfully enrich corrupt public officials.
The role of the EC is to enable the citizens to participate in free and fair elections – it has and will always remain the guiding principle of the Chairperson. It is only those that are eager to subvert the law and engage in illegal actions that will not support this mandate in its implementation and vision of creating a World Class Electoral Commission.
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh