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Anti-corruption Crusader, Martin A.B.K Amidu, strongly believes the erstwhile NDC-led John Mahama administration appointed Madam Charlotte Osei to head the Electoral Commission (EC) "precisely because of her Incompetence ".

According to him, that deficiency made the EC chairperson "susceptible for use for an election rigging agenda."

"...as I said time without number during the 2016 elections, she was appointed by a corrupt Government precisely because of her incompetence that made her susceptible for use for an election rigging agenda. Her appointing Government failed in the rigging agenda despite all the attempts by the Commission to narrow the election to a two-party race to facilitate easy rigging for the incumbent," the one-time Attorney-General claimed.

In his latest write-ups on happenings within the country's electoral body,  the "Citizen Vigilante" wondered why in their defence of the EC Chairperson, the NDC could get itself so worked up that "their surrogates decided to throw out the baby with the bath water by petitioning against their two other appointees?" 

Dismissing accusations that the current government is witch-hunting the EC Chairperson, the "Citizen Vigilante" said the NDC rather decided to throw caution to the wind by besmearing the other members of the commission after having been caught pants down openly backing her.

"The second petition is not, therefore, from any witches from the NPP let alone to hunt the Deputy Commissioners....

....Should all the three Commissioners or one or two be removed from office, the NDC can only have itself to blame for its predicament and not any witch-hunters from the NPP after being petitioners ourselves to facilitate the possible removal of all three Commissioners," he wrote.

Read Mr Martin Amidu's latest article below

NDC CREATED THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION CHAOS THAT NOW PORTENDS A BAD OMEN FOR THE CONGRESS: BY MARTIN A. B. K. AMIDU
 
The NDCs precipitate defensive actions, without waiting for the blood to cool and reason to assume its seat, when the petition against their appointed Electoral Commission Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, became public knowledge, may see all the three Commissioners appointed by the Congress or a number of them whipped out of office and new ones appointed by their so called adversaries, the NPP.

This is happening because we all remained silent and allowed charlatans and strangers to our values and ideals to hi-jack the NDC and alienate the most committed, selfless and experienced strategic and tactical founding thinkers of the party.

The last few weeks saw the Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, with the conditions of service of a Justice of the Court of Appeal, descending into the gutters and casting aspersion on her two Deputy Commissioners, also with the conditions of service of Justices of the High Court.

She completely lost her comportment, decorum, and above all the high moral character and proven integrity of a Justice of the Court of Appeal to exhibit absolute patience in the face of every provocation so as to maintain the honour and dignity of her high office as the Electoral Commissioner and of the Commission as a whole - simply because the constitutional right of petitioning for her removal had been invoked against her.

Come what may, the Chairperson of the Commission had a supreme responsibility to maintain the integrity of the priceless Commission of which she had leadership. She should not have allowed herself to have been baited into fighting and exchanging vituperative words publicly with both Deputy Commissioners and other members of management.

Speaking for myself, she once more exhibited her incompetence and lack of leadership skills that in my view rendered her unfit for appointment to the high office of Electoral Commissioner in the first place.

But as I said time without number during the 2016 elections, she was appointed by a corrupt Government precisely because of her incompetence that made her susceptible for use for an election rigging agenda. Her appointing Government failed in the rigging agenda despite all the attempts by the Commission to narrow the election to a two-party race to facilitate easy rigging for the incumbent.

She has, either on her own or at the instance of her mentor, been trying to recycle herself as a neutral Electoral Commissioner after her Church Papa mediated her peaceful announcement of the election results.

The petition to the President for her removal from office by some alleged officers of the Commission made her to welcome support even from the leadership of the NDC in and out of Parliament. They in turn, without producing any evidence charged the NPP Government in several statements and interviews published in the media with witch-hunting her from office.

The two Deputy Electoral Commissioners who were also appointed to the Commission by the past NDC Government felt compelled to explain their versions in response to the unusual accusations from their Chairperson in the media, as though they supported the petition against her, Charlotte Osei.

The responses of the two Deputy Commissioners who had been longer on the job than the Chairperson cannot be said to be witch-hunting by the NPP.

However, the NDC, which had alienated almost all their experienced and founding strategic and tactical thinking members just could not think very deeply of the consequences of their three appointees fighting each other in public at the Commission. I suspected that once the NDC had openly taken the side of the Chairperson whom we, anti-corruption crusaders, suspected was appointed with a rigging agenda, they threw caution to the wind and could not have the patience of old age to cut their losses.