The 46 petitioners from the ‘FixTheCountry’ Movement, who had previously lodged an impeachment petition against Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, as well as her Deputies, have dropped the petition
This decision was communicated through a press release issued on Friday, July 14, 2023. The petitioners explained that their faith in the integrity of the process had been eroded due to an extended period of waiting for institutional action on their petition.
The original petition was submitted in January 2022 and had alleged serious misconduct on the part of the Electoral Commission. Specifically, it claimed that the commission had wrongfully denied the citizens of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe their right to vote in the 2020 parliamentary elections.
The petitioners expressed their disappointment with the Chief Justice, asserting that the deliberate delay in addressing the petition had contributed to their loss of confidence in the process. This frustration likely stemmed from the perception that the Chief Justice had intentionally prolonged the proceedings without taking any action.
In light of these circumstances, the #FixTheCountry Movement decided to withdraw the impeachment petition against Jean Mensa and her Deputies, highlighting their disillusionment with the process and the lack of prompt action on their concerns.
We the petitioners, after 2 years of seeing various constitutional officers fail to live up to their constitutional responsibilities in this matter, have become convinced of a lack of interest or urgency in pursuing the justice of our plaint and have as such lost faith in the integrity of the process, the petitioners said in the press release.
The refusal to act on the petition was due to a deliberate and collaborationist decision by the then Chief Justice to hide behind contrived proceduralism in order to allow room for the frivolous filibustering devices of Madam Jean Mensa.
The petitioners added that they want to “exercise our democratic right to withdraw this petition, in order that the Constitution will no further be mocked by the indolence of actors who have 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. In addition, we see no reason why we should participate in the persistence of what has so clearly become a charade.
