EC Boss grilled over media cash

Electoral Commission Chairperson says monies the commission took from journalists for accreditation during last year’s elections were intact.
Mrs. Charlotte Osei disclosed that the money estimated at over GHC2.5 million was sitting in the EC’s bank accounts at the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB).
In her response to an urgent question filed over the failure of the commission to capture the money in its 2017 financial statement yesterday, the EC boss said it was an “oversight.
Mrs. Osei told the lawmakers that the money had not disappeared from the commission’s account. “They [monies] are there.”
The EC boss was served a summon last week by Parliament following an urgent question filed by the Subin Member of Parliament (MP), Eugene Antwi, over some discrepancies in the commission’s 2017 financial statement.
The MP explained that the EC did not capture the monies it raised during the 2016 elections.
The commission charged GHC10 from journalists for media accreditation and GHC5 for replacement of lost voter’s ID cards ahead of last year’s elections.
But the monies accrued did not find expression in the EC’s financial statement submitted to the government.
This did not sit well with the MP resulting in his decision to file the question in order to seek clarification from the commission.
But the EC boss said the discrepancy was an oversight.
Mrs. Osei said the money, which is in the commission’s bank account, had not been tampered with.
She assured Parliament that the commission will liaise with the Director of Budget at the Finance Ministry to correct the error.