The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has challenged the Electoral Commission (EC) to prove the source of funding for the Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) as he stands by his claim that the government provided them for the Commission.
His call for proof of otherwise comes on the back of the statement issued by the EC on May 11, 2020 to debunk the Minority Leader’s claim.
However, Mr. Iddrisu insists in a statement that, he stands by his words and cited the Director of Elections at the EC, Dr. Serebuor Quaicoe’s claim as the basis for his assertion.
He clarified that he was only reiterating the words of Dr. Serebuor Quaicoe.
“For the record, I did indicate at the said Press Conference that I was making reference to a statement made by Dr. Serebuor Quaicoo, Director of Electoral Services of the Electoral Commission. Dr. Serebuor Quaicoo had indicated on Joy FM’s current affairs programme, Newsfile on Saturday, 18th April 2020 that the EC had received enough PPEs from Government,” he said.
Mr. Iddrisu emphasized that EC’s Director of Elections did not deny the allegation but the commission did hence, the commission needs to explain with what PPEs they claim to have prepared for the new Voters Register exercise.
“Unfortunately, Dr. Serebuor had not come out to deny the assertion. The E.C. in its Statement alleged that they did not receive any PPEs from Government. The question that the EC must answer is how it came by the PPEs it claimed were enough for the intended compilation of a new Voters Register, which has been wildly condemned by Civil Society, and well-meaning Ghanaians,” he stressed.
He went on to challenge the Commission to reveal the source of funding for acquiring PPE to Ghanaians if it still holds that government made no provision.
He said, “the Commission should tell the Ghanaian public the source of the funds used for the procurement of its PPEs since they claim these were not provided by Government and these were also not provided for in their budget for 2020.”
The Minority Leader who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Tamale South elucidated that his bouts on the EC’s integrity are “issues of public knowledge and cannot be attributable to the Press Statement by the Minority Caucus in Parliament.”
The EC’s decision to undertake a new Voter’s Register exercise has received criticisms and backlash on why it wants to discard the old voter register and management to acquire a new system.
The EC is also looking forward to compiling a new electoral roll.
According to the commission, its decision on procuring a new system is to ensure that the electoral roll used on the election day is more credible and effective than the existing one which was used for the 2016 election.
Hence, it has proceeded to acquire a new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS) to better address verification challenges that could occur during elections despite the opposition from the Minority in Parliament and groups such as IMANI Africa.
The process to compile a new register is currently suspended because of the pandemic but the EC in its statement on May 11, 2020 indicated that plans are far advanced for the compilation of the new Voters Register with a new Voter Management System for the upcoming 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Read the EC’s press release on May 11,2020 below:
