Group withdraws petition for removal of EC Chairperson

A group of citizens who appealed to the President to remove the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, and her deputies have withdrawn the petition.

The 46 citizens, convened by pressure group #fixthecountry, were aggrieved over the alleged role of the commission in the disenfranchisement of the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL) as far as parliamentary representation was concerned.

The withdrawal of the petition followed the adjournment of the case sine die by the Supreme Court last Wednesday.

“After nearly two years of waiting for institutional action on the impeachment petition brought against the chairperson and deputies of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, we the 46 petitioners formally notified the President and the Chief Justice of our intention to withdraw the petition,” a statement issued by the #fixthecountry last Friday said.

Failure
The petitioners explained that their decision to withdraw the case came after seeing various constitutional officers, including the Chief Justice, failing to live up to their constitutional responsibilities in the matter.

They said they had lost faith in the integrity of the process because they had become convinced that there was a lack of interest and urgency in pursuing justice for their plaint.

“Since the petition was forwarded to the Chief Justice, we have witnessed contrived gestures that, for us, signal a clear intention to undermine or extinguish the constitutional mechanisms for accountability and judicious conduct,” the statement added.

They said they felt compelled to exercise their democratic right to withdraw the petition so that the constitution would no longer be mocked by the indolence of actors who had been assigned the task of its protection.

“In reaching this decision, we have considered the best interest of our democracy, and taken further account of our refusal to lend ourselves to any process that will ultimately be used to whitewash clear evidence of egregious misconduct,” it said.

For this reason, the petitioners said they saw no reason to participate in the persistence of a case that had clearly become a charade.

Source: graphic online