The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr is alleging that that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has refused to act on a petition seeking the removal of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa.
The said petition outlines a tall list of maladministration and dubious acts by Jean Mensah at the EC.
However, Pratt said on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show that a group has petitioned the president with some allegations against Jean Mensa, but the President has “sat on it”.
He contrasted the President’s posture against a similar petition against EC Chair Charlotte Osei where the then newly-elected Akufo Addo had swiftly referred the petition to the Chief Justice, and eventually got Ms. Osei kicked out, reportedly because he felt she was less sympathetic towards the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“I like to go back to the case of Charlotte Osei, when the petition went to the Head of State, we were told that in those circumstances, the head of state cannot determine whether the petition is frivolous or not. When he receives it, he must pass it on to the next level. That’s what we were told. I do know that there has been a similar petition against the current chairperson of the Electoral Commission. Why haven’t we gone to the next level. Why has the president not acted as a conveyer belt now?” Pratt Jnr. Questioned.
“I’m not saying the allegations against her are true or she is guilty. She may be an innocent woman doing legitimate work and working properly but if we say the principle is that the president is merely a conveyer belt and that the moment he receives a petition, he is bound to pass it on to the next level for the process to begin, what about this case?” he asked.
Already, the situation reinforces speculations that Jean Mensah is personally close to the President and she was his key to winning the 2020 re-election, where her declaration had raised serious suspicion and a legal suit, following the massive discrepancies in the voting figures she used to declare Akufo Addo winner of the Presidency in 2020.
