In a damning critique, Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President & CEO of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education has laid bare what he describes as a systematic betrayal by Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC), accusing it of gerrymandering, fraud, and contributing to the economic downturn of the country.
His detailed critique, stemming from personal experience and thorough analysis, pointed to a series of actions by the EC that, in his view, have compromised Ghana’s democracy and undermined public trust in the electoral process.
The Chief Executive Officer of the renowned policy think-tank’s account began with the controversial disenfranchisement of the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) during the 2020 general elections.
“I get so irritated whenever I hear the Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson ask people to trust her and her gang. This was the same EC that promised my Chiefs from SALL in a meeting on November 30, 2020, that their constituents would vote in the 2020 elections.
“I personally thanked her. Six days later, on the eve of the 2020 elections, she authorised the release of a letter to the media at midnight that simply said my people couldn’t vote. Just like that. No explanation was given”.
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President & CEO, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
For Franklin Cudjoe, this decision was not just an act of negligence but a calculated move to alter the balance of power in Parliament, giving the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) a slim majority.
“This was gerrymandering orchestrated by the EC,” he asserted, accusing the EC of working hand-in-hand with the government to achieve this outcome.
Judicial Frustration and the Quest for Justice
Furthermore, Mr Cudjoe noted that efforts to seek justice through the courts were equally frustrating, asserting that a high court judge, after three years of entertaining the electoral fraud case filed by the people of SALL, ruled that he had no jurisdiction to resolve the matter.
He expressed deep dismay at this decision, describing it as yet another blow to the people of SALL, who had gone four years without parliamentary representation or any significant development in their constituencies.
“So for four years, my people in SALL had no representation in parliament, saw no single development, dilapidated school, and road infrastructure just got worse. And yet we paid taxes! ”
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President & CEO, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
Mr Cudjoe lamented, adding that the EC’s actions left the people of SALL feeling abandoned by the very system that was supposed to serve them.
EC’s False Narrative on Biometric Equipment
Franklin Cudjoe also exposed what he believes to be another layer of deception by the EC, particularly its claims about the obsolescence of biometric voter equipment ahead of the 2020 elections.
The EC had insisted that all equipment purchased in 2011 was outdated and could not be used for the elections, however, Franklin Cudjoe revealed that parliamentary records, statements from the Controller and Accountant General, and the Ministry of Finance showed otherwise.
“That close to 4000 of such expensive equipment were purchased in 2016, 2018, and 2019. This same equipment had been successfully used in the 2016 elections and December 2019 district-level elections and the referendum in 2018”.
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President & CEO, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
To his disbelief, all this equipment allegedly “died” in January 2020, just three weeks after being used in the December 2019 district elections. This, according to Mr Cudjoe, was merely a ploy to justify the EC’s decision to purchase new, expensive equipment.
Fraudulent Tender Process and Economic Fallout
The EC’s actions, Franklin Cudjoe continued, did not stop at misleading the public about the state of voter equipment, asserting that when it came time to procure new equipment, the tendering process was marred by irregularities.
The EC, Mr Cudjoe alleged, rigged the tender process in favour of certain bidders, even going so far as to manipulate scores.
“In one instance, the Electoral Commission invented a new arithmetic formula that said 83+15 = 106, being the marks awarded the successful bidders when the next favoured bidder had a correctly summed total mark of 102. This infuriating conclusion led the tender committee chairman to recuse himself from the process”
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President & CEO, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
The IMANI Centre for Policy and Education Founding President additionally pointed out that despite this controversy, the EC proceeded to spend nearly $90 million on new voter equipment, adding another $60 million in costs for the elections themselves.
According to Mr Cudjoe, these unnecessary expenditures contributed significantly to Ghana’s financial collapse, leading to the country’s junk-rated economy and its inability to meet both domestic and international debt obligations.
A Call for Vigilance Amid Mistrust
Franklin Cudjoe’s indictment of the EC goes beyond these specific issues. He also addressed the attempts by political operatives to discredit his organization, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, by spreading false narratives that IMANI had political ambitions or sought contracts from the EC.
He dismissed these accusations as “laughable” and “contrived,” labelling them as desperate smears by “mindless political foot soldiers” and their backers.
“So, yes, you can trust [the EC] if you want, but be vigilant.” For Franklin Cudjoe, the EC’s actions in recent years reflect a deeper, more troubling pattern of behaviour—one that demands greater scrutiny and vigilance from the public.
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