The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision has dismissed the suit of Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako challenging the removal of Mrs. Charlotte Osei as Electoral Commissioner.
The seven-member panel presided over by His Lordship Julius Ansah, dismissed the case on the grounds that it raised no issue for constitutional interpretation or enforcement.
Mr. Baako was seeking the interpretation of Article 146(1) of the Constitution, which states that, a Justice of the Superior Court or Chairman of the Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on grounds of inability to perform the functions of his/her office arising from infirmity of body or mind.
It is the case of Mr. Baako that Article 146(1) implies that the petition to remove Mrs. Osei was only valid if it alleged stated misbehaviour or incompetence relating to the performance of the constitutional functions of Mrs. Osei’s when she was the Commissioner, and that the impeachment, was not based on the performance of her duties.
The Plaintiff was seeking a declaration that the Chief Justice’s determination that a prima facie had been established against Mrs. Osei, was null and void, as the allegations were not based on acts of misbehaviour or incompetence in the performance of her duties.
It was however, the case of the Attorney General that Article 146(1) was explicitly clear on the issue of stated misbehaviour and it does not imply misbehaviour only to the discharge of duties.
Source: GhanaJustice/F.Kyeremateng
