Charlotte Osei

Charlotte Osei is a Ghanaian lawyer who was the first woman to chair the Electoral Commission of Ghana. She ran the 2016 general election, which produced a peaceful change of government, and was removed from office in June 2018 after a Chief Justice's committee found against her on procurement charges.

Early life and education

Osei was born on 1 February 1969 in Nigeria to parents of mixed West African heritage, with a Ghanaian grandparent on her father's side. She attended Ghana National College in Cape Coast and studied law at the University of Ghana, graduating in 1992, and was called to the Ghana Bar in 1994. She later earned a Master of Business Leadership from the University of South Africa in 2006 and a Master of Laws from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada.

Legal career

After a year as a teaching assistant in the law faculty at Legon, she practised at Laryea and Company, then spent five years as a senior legal officer at Ghana Commercial Bank while lecturing part-time in commercial law. She was general counsel of Unibank Ghana from 2002 to 2005 and then founded her own firm, Prime Attorneys, which she led until 2011.

NCCE and the Electoral Commission

President John Mills appointed her chair of the National Commission for Civic Education in 2011. In 2015 President John Mahama named her chair of the Electoral Commission. She was the returning officer for the December 2016 presidential election, in which Nana Akufo-Addo defeated Mahama, and in 2017 the United States Embassy gave her its Women of Courage Award.

Removal

In 2017 several citizens petitioned the President to remove her, alleging among other things that contracts had been awarded in breach of procurement law. A committee set up by the Chief Justice investigated and recommended her removal for misbehaviour. President Akufo-Addo removed her, together with her two deputies, on 28 June 2018. Two writs were later filed at the Supreme Court challenging the dismissal.

Later career

In May 2019 the United Nations appointed her an international non-voting commissioner on Afghanistan's Independent Electoral Commission. She has since served on corporate boards, and Avance Media listed her among its 2026 Top 100 Ghana's Women Board Directors for her seat on the board of Ghana Gas. She is married with two children.