The Electoral Commission (EC) has dismissed claims that it breached procurement procedures when it reprinted ballot papers for the 2024 general elections, following a reported leakage.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, June 19, the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, Dr Bossman Asare, stated that the Commission acted within the law and secured the appropriate approval from the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) before engaging the printing houses.
“There was no breach of the procurement law. The Commission wrote the CTRC on the 2nd of December, and the elections were supposed to take place on 7th December,” Dr Asare said.
“CTRC knew all the printing houses and the specific regions they were printing. So we didn’t go to PPA. So it was only appropriate that when we had to withdraw ballots for the Eastern and Central regions, we had to go back to the same organization that permitted us to engage these printing houses.”
Responding to concerns that the EC may have started the reprinting process before securing formal approval, Dr Asare clarified that time constraints made it necessary to act swiftly.
“Yes, the problem came on the Friday, which was 29th November, then we met with our parties on Sunday, which was 1st December,” he said.
“In that meeting, the EC, together with the parties, identified three printers who will be able to do the work within the time available. We had to reschedule the special voting for these two regions. So while all the other 14 regions were having a special voting, we had to reschedule for these particular two regions.”
The EC’s decision to reprint ballots came after it emerged that some sensitive electoral materials had been compromised.
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