Politics of Thursday, 6 February 2020

Source: Richard Obeng Bediako, Contributor

EC’s budget highly inflated –Otokunor

Peter Otukonor Peter Otukonor

Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Peter Boamah Otokunor has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of inflating its estimated cost of acquiring a new voters’ management system by 60 per cent.

He asserted that,” a careful analysis of best practices in procuring biometric technology for elections in Africa shows that EC’s proposed spending plans are inflated by about 60 percent. “

According to him,the EC has inflated the prices for the procurement of a new voter’s register ahead of the 2020 elections.

” The Electoral Commission (EC) want to dupe this country with their bloated budget to do a new register,we will do everything possible to fight against the new voter’s register,” Peter Boamah told Kwame Tutu on Anopa Nkomo on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7

“We will use legitimate democratic means to stop the Electoral Commission and the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government from dissipating our scarce resources the manner they want to do.”

“In short, the EC’s proposed system is brutally expensive compared to other countries in Africa.”

“The EC is taking a unilateral decision over the new Voters Register and the explanation on the need for the register is unconvincing,” he said.

The CSOs emphatically rejected the EC’s position based on evidence available so far.

Otokunor said,” The EC is eroding the trust we in the civil society movement in Ghana have in the institution, and reducing the esteem in which we had previously held it.