The Electoral Commission (EC) says it is does not know about any petition from the policy think-tank, IMANI Africa to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
IMANI Africa had earlier indicated today that, it submitted a petition urging an investigation into the EC over the sale of equipment.
The petition, dated May 4, expressed concerns about the EC’s supposed mismanagement of the country’s resources.
“We are gravely concerned by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana’s handling of the nation’s scarce resources in the discharge of its duties, which conduct we believe amounts to “misappropriation”, “wastage”, and “misuse” of said resources,” the statement said.
IMANI further alleged that, the premature retirement and disposal of tens of thousands of laptops, digital cameras, printers, scanners, and fingerprint verifiers by the EC is motivated by a conflict of interest and potential corruption.
In the statement signed by its President Franklin Cudjoe, IMANI explained that the recent conduct of the EC aims to curtail transparency and accountability and erase evidence of false claims he says were made by the commission regarding the purchase history of expensive electoral equipment.
But EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa on May 6, said her outfit is not aware of any such move.
In the petition to CHRAJ, the think-tank also argued that the equipment in question, worth tens of millions of dollars, should have been donated to other government agencies or sold through a properly regulated public tender.
Speaking at a press conference on May 6, the EC boss was confident that the Commission has done no wrong in its approach towards the procurement activities.
“I assure you that the EC abided strictly by law in all procurements that it has done from 2018 to date. We go through the appropriate agencies, be it the PPA or you can go through the central tender review committee. And that has been done and there is documentation to it.”
Madam Mensa also indicated that, her administration also reduced the cost of voting per person from $13 to 7$.
Meanwhile, the policy think-tank is also considering a possible referral of the matter to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for a specialised corruption risk assessment.
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