Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Friday,
August 25, 2017
A report of the
Special Budget Committee of Parliament has revealed how the Chairperson of the Electoral
Commission (EC) Charlotte Osei, requested for more money for the commission, although
the general elections have been concluded.
She was demanding
approval for the balance of GH¢223,000,751 from GH¢1,093,000,751 which was
required for the 2016 general elections.
However, an audit
report indicated that initial money allocated for the commission was more than
enough.
Initial Release
The former Finance
Minister Seth Terkper had released GH¢870,000,000 out of GH¢1,093,000,751, but
the breakdown of the expenses of the commission put before the Special Budget Committee
showed that it spent GH¢800,000,000 for the entire election.
In the Hansard of March
30, 2017 – specifically, columns 4815 to 4818 - the committee reveals how the
EC boss demanded GH¢223,000,751 as outstanding payments for the 2016 elections
- when the audited arrears are far less.
However, sources say
the audit revealed that even though the GH¢223 million owed to contractors,
vendors, suppliers and election officials was paid between November and
December 2016 by the commission, the amount was still submitted to the Ministry
of Finance and parliament in February and March this year as outstanding
liabilities.
“Our audit further
revealed that even though the GHc223m owed to contractors, vendors, suppliers
and election officials were paid between November and December 2016, the amount
was still submitted to the Ministry of Finance and parliament in February and
March 2017 respectively as outstanding liabilities. Details of the payments
made with their corresponding dates are provided...,” the report indicated.
Regular Meetings
According to the
report, the committee was able to meet the commissioners on three occasions to
interrogate the budget of the commission, saying, “Remarkably, the
collaboration among the committee, the commission and the Ministry of Finance
resulted in the downward revision of the requested amount on all three
occasions that the meetings were held.”
According to the
report, the committee, after the three meetings, were requested to probe the EC
figures further but no further work was done.
“The committee is of
the view that the commission must not allow the integrity of the figures they
submit to be assailed rampantly,” the report stressed.
Details of the
payments made with their corresponding dates provided showed that between May
and December last year, the commission paid a total of GH¢96,502,379.83 and
$42,151,987.43 to various vendors ranging from services like VMS upgrade,
warranty and maintenance, supply of cartridges, printers, biometric
verification device (BVD) and biometric registration kits.
Between November 29
and December 16, 2016, the EC paid various printing firms like Ghana Publishing
Corporation, Yasarko Press, Fonstat Limited, Innolink, Check Point and Acts
Commercial Limited a total of GH¢15,160,059.65 as contracts for printing Notice
of Polls.
Offshore Materials
On payment for
offshore election materials between July 4 and December 15, Ditrac was paid
GH¢18,056,556.30 as final payment for the supply of indelible ink, Armstrong
Limited and Sani-Salley Enterprise got GH¢5,851,476.00 each for the supply of
rechargeable lamps while Enus Company Limited was paid GH¢47,695,200.00 for
supplying voting screens.
Nel Supplies had
GH¢377,806.60 for the supply of laminates; Paul Kenny Ventures received
GH¢8,821,392.00 for supplying AA Alkaline Batteries, Ditrac was given an
advanced payment of GH¢1,534,420.00 for the supply of indelible ink; Aero Vote
Security Printing Ghana Limited received GH¢8,501,131.51 for the supply of
forms; EL and Baynet Limited was paid GH¢672,521.81 for the supply of endorsing
ink - bringing the total to GH¢105,143,788.62.
On the Election
Results Management System (ERMS) Brown Kasaro was paid a total of GH¢242,646.45
for customization (of ERMS) while Dunia Ramazani received GH¢82,797.13 and
GH¢70,465.34 respectively for consultancy fees for ERMS.
IT Markets Limited
got four different payments of GH¢88,390.10, GH¢234,305.00, GH¢188,670.00 and
GH¢346,500.00 for the supply of ERMS software, network switches and cables for
ERMS, hardware for ERMS and HDMI video switches.
Perfect Business
Systems supplied laptops, computers, monitors, laptop bags and monitors at the
cost of GH¢1,094,500.00, GH¢2,704,500.00 and GH¢308,717.95 and the various
mobile phone networks - Airtel, Vodafone, MTN and Tigo – GH¢2,534,877.54,
GH¢1,104,245.61 GH¢202,282.64 and GH¢2,749,996.74 were paid for the provision
of virtual private network at a grand total of GH¢11,952,894.50.
The commission
transferred a total of GH¢858,270.00 as the fourth quarter administrative
expenses to the regions and a total of GH¢51,807,650.00 as election allowance
to the regions with 25% election allowance - hitting GH¢4,447,847.56.
Commissioners’ Mistrust
The Special Budget
Committee Report concluded that the committee generally made observation to the
effect that “There are deep-seated mistrust among members of the commission,
especially between the chairperson and the deputy commissioners. This
undoubtedly negatively impacts on the operations of the commission.”
The committee
recommended, “The chairperson and members of the commission should deal with one
another in a much more open and transparent manner in order to eradicate the
existing mistrust and also win the confidence of one another for harmonious
working relations and in the supreme interest of the country.”
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