The former Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Mrs Charlotte Osei has arrived in Liberia as the leader of an ECOWAS Election and IT Experts to assist Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) in the cleaning of their voter roll in preparation for the upcoming Senatorial Elections, Constitutional Referendum and Bye Elections scheduled for on 8th December 2020.
In a statement released by the Office of the Special Representative of the President of the ECOWAS Commission in Liberia, the deployment of the team follows on a formal request from H.E. George Manneh Weah, the President of the Republic of Liberia with approval from the President of the ECOWAS Commission H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
According to the statement, “The technical arm of the team has been in Liberia since 22nd October 2020 and has been working with the NEC Data Centre, as well as the UNDP Consultants attached to the Centre.”
Read the full statement:
FORMER CHAIRPERSON OF GHANA ELECTIONS COMMISSION ARRIVES MONROVIA AS ECOWAS TEAM LEAD
Following the formal request from H.E. George Manneh Weah, the President of the Republic of Liberia, the President of the ECOWAS Commission H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou approved the deployment of a team of Election and IT experts to assist the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia in the cleaning of the voter roll in preparation for the Senatorial Elections, Constitutional Referendum and Bye Elections scheduled to hold on 8th December 2020, the former Chairperson of Ghana Elections Commission Madam Charlotte Osei arrives Monrovia on 15th November 2020 to join the technical team that has been on ground.
This deployment is also in keeping with the provisions of Article 14 of the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance as well as Article 53(c) of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework and the Decision of the Authority of Heads of State to send timely pre-election missions to Member States holding elections to ensure a credible and a free and fair electoral process.
The technical arm of the team has been in Liberia since 22nd October 2020 and has been working with the NEC Data Centre, as well as the UNDP Consultants attached to the Centre.
Brief profile of Mrs. Osei:
Mrs Osei has over 25 years experience in both the private and public sectors and has held various senior-level leadership positions during this period. Amongst others, she was the immediate past Executive, and the first female, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana where she conducted the 2016 Ghana Presidential and Parliamentary Elections acclaimed by the international and domestic observers as one of the best elections in Africa and beyond.
Mrs Osei was also the First female Executive Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Ghana, where she managed and ensured effective stakeholder engagements for a wide range of stakeholders including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), State Institutions, faith-based organizations, women and youth groups and the international donor community. In addition to these experiences, Madam Osei has been a Technical Expert as well as ECOWAS Long Term Observer to ECOWAS Member States including serving in various ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Missions. She was also a UN International Non-Voting Commissioner at the Electoral Complaints Commission, Afghanistan.
She is an accomplished lawyer with a Masters of Law degree from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, she also holds a Masters degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, and currently the Founder and Lead Counsel of Prime Attorneys in Ghana. She is also a Board member of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA). Mrs Osei was a recipient of the Woman of Courage Award (2017) by the US government, Glitz Africa Woman of the Year Award, Governance (2018) and Finalist for Chatham House International Prize in 2017.
ECOWAS and the UNDP believe that with her vast experience in Law, Election Observation and Management and having held key Executive positions in both private and public offices, Madam Osei would be able to provide strategic advice to the NEC in areas of logistics, elections planning, communications, dispute resolutions and team building as it prepares for the forthcoming elections. She will also work closely with the ECOWAS office of the Special Representative in Liberia and the UNDP.
By: Efo Korsi Senyo / awakenewsroom.com