Lawyer and law lecturer Thaddeus Sory has questioned Ghana’s moral and constitutional standards after former Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson Charlotte Osei was removed from office despite saving the state millions of cedis.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on October 20, he said Mrs. Osei’s removal in June 2018 reflected a troubling disconnect between what society expects and how justice is dispensed.
He argued that Mrs. Osei’s so-called “offence” was a decision that saved Ghana GH¢15 million.
“I’m saying Charlotte Osei, her crime was that she saved Ghana GH¢15 million. She came and cancelled the contract because she said, ‘look, there was no value for money’.
“She told the contractor to justify ‘why we are paying this amount when the value that I have assessed is worth this. So GH¢15 million less, what we have contracted before, is what we will pay you’,” he explained.
According to Mr. Sory, Mrs. Osei’s decision was supported by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), which testified that there had been no breach of procurement laws.
“PPA came and testified that there was no breach of procurement. In the worst case, we can only say best practices may have required her to come back to seek their permission to award it for less than what they had approved. But she was removed,” he lamented.
Mr. Sory said the episode showed how society often punishes integrity.
“If that is what the society wants, so be it,” he said, stressing that accountability must always reflect the expectations of the people.
He also discussed how “stated misbehaviour” is defined under Ghana’s Constitution.
He explained that such provisions are not meant to spell out every detail but to guide moral and ethical conduct expected of public officials.
“When we say stated misbehaviour or we say incompetence, remember that justice emanates from the people. So the people have this particular expectation of you,” he said.
He noted that misconduct could range from moral failings to actions that undermine public confidence in officeholders.
“If the Chief Justice gets drunk whilst in office, that’s stated misbehaviour. If we find out that she has passed a number of decisions which contradict what she applies to herself, that amounts to misbehaviour,” he noted.
Mr. Sory argued that the current system for judging misconduct should be led by ordinary citizens rather than judges, since “justice emanates from the people.”
“Left to me alone, we those involved in the justice system judge ordinary men from whom justice emanates. If it affects us, let them also judge us,” he said.
He rejected the idea that standards of misbehaviour should be codified, insisting they should be decided case by case.
“It will be limitless,” he said, explaining that public confidence should guide every decision. “The public will tell you they don’t like that,” he added.
According to him, even long-standing constitutions elsewhere have imperfections, but what matters is whether public trust remains intact.
“There are 200-year-old constitutions which have the most atrocious provisions. There’s a constitution of a so-called democracy which has an electoral college that can make a president win an election not with the majority of votes but with a minority. And that one is still sitting there, and they haven’t complained,” he said.
Source: Myjoyonline