Following the reported case of missing Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) and the scrutiny and pressure mounting on the Electoral Commission (EC), the Commission instructed all regional offices to return outstanding BVDs to the Head office in Accra.

The affected regional offices are Greater Accra, Easter, Western, Central Upper East, Savannah, Volta, North East, North and Western. In the letter seen by the media, all regional directors were informed to return the BVDs used for the 2023 District Assembly Elections to the head office.

“ The attention of the Commission has been drawn to the shortages in the quantity of BVDs retrieved from the above-listed regions. The Commission directs that the affected regions should arrange to return the outstanding BVDs to the Procurement Inventory and Management Unit at the Head Office,”
Electoral Commission

It would be recalled that on March 19, the Minority in Parliament disclosed that about 7 BVDs belonging to the Commission cannot be accounted for. The minority leader, Cassiel Ato Forson stated “The Electoral Commission Confirms that Seven Biometric Devices are indeed missing. I urge the CID and Ghana Police Service to immediately issue a statement providing details of the progress of their investigations thus far.”

Since then, a lot of attention has shifted to the EC and its leadership. Moreso, questions are being raised about its internal mechanism and security regime.

Hightenened Suspicion

To restore its image and confidence it appeared to have lost, the EC held a press conference. Speaking to the media, the Deputy Commissioner in charge of corporate affairs, Dr. Bossman Asare touted the the robustness of his outfit’s security arrangement as he reassured Ghanaians of the electoral umpire’s determination to conduct a clean poll.

Dr. Bossman said, “We want to assure each and everyone and the good people of our country that our systems are secured and very robust. We are going to organize another transparent, credible election which will go down as one of the best.”

He added, “Anyone who thinks that there’s a problem, we are convinced and certain that all our systems are secured and we are ready for the activities of the year.”

However, he admitted that some items belonging to the Commission were missing but not BVDs. He further stated that it was laptops that were missing and they did not contain any sensitive information that could affect or compromise the integrity of the the poll.

Still not satisfied with the directive, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Director of elections Dr. Omane Boamah re-echoed the NDC’s position on the matter “I also hope the Electoral Commission is ready and willing to allow for full-scale unbiased investigations into the Biometric Voters Registration (BVR) kits that were stolen. We must all work to achieve a free, fair, and transparent election.”

Additionally, Mr. Franklin Cudjo of Imani Africa, a Think Tank expressed a profound lack of trust in the “They messed us up and wasted that amount of money and now they are finding ways and means and trying to come back and say that they want to spend more money again. Again, the word is true; I don’t trust them one bit.”

Bumpy Road Ahead

Although, the return of the BVDs to the head office is good, not short of a credible and independent investigation would restore trust in the EC. With the opposition firmly convinced that the EC is working against it in favour of the ruling party, without an independent probe, we may be heading to a contested poll from its inception.

Previously, Cassiel Ato Forson hinted at such suspicion saying “I am concerned and worried because those devices in the hands of an unknown person can compromise the future elections that we will have.“

He further stated ” knows whether this is in the hands of a political party? And who knows what that political party is doing with it? I am disturbed.”

The onus now resides with the EC on whether it wants to do the right and avoid potential contestation