The Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has said that President John Dramani Mahama has followed the process in forwarding the petitions for the removal of the Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa and the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, to the Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie for action to be taken.
Kwakye Ofosu says everything now rests with the Chief Justice.
“Every process that needed to be done has been undertaken. The process for doing so is quite clear. At this stage, the process has left the hands of the president beyond conveying the petitions to the Chief Justice. There’s little else that the president does in this particular instance. Everything now rests with the Chief Justice, who I believe will act in accordance with Ghanaian law,” he told Joy News on Monday, December 1.
Seven petitions were filed against Jean Mensa, and her two deputies, Dr Bossman Eric Asare, who is in charge of Corporate, and Samuel Tettey, in charge of Operations.
Three other petitions are against the removal of the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng.
Article 70(2) of the Constitution states that “The President shall, acting on the advice of the Council of State, appoint the Chairman, Deputy Chairmen and other members of the Electoral Commission.”
The Chairperson of the EC and the deputies have the same conditions of service as those of Justices of the superior courts — the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court — and so are their removal processes.
While the Chairperson of the EC has the same terms and conditions of service as a Justice of the Court of Appeal, the two Deputy Chairmen of the Commission have the same terms and conditions of service as are applicable to a Justice of the High Court.
