5 missing laptops: Example of ‘incompetence, malfeasance and corporate mismanagement’ – Election Watch hits back at EC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An independent bipartisan group, Election Watch Ghana, has hit back at the Electoral Commission (EC) over the Commission’s response to its allegations that stolen biometric voter registration (BVR) kits are being used to illegally register unqualified applicants on the electoral roll.

The EC, responding to the allegations during a news conference on Tuesday, May 21, insisted that it had not made any reports about missing BVRs.

Additionally, the Commission noted that for Election Watch to describe the five missing laptops as BVRs is “a deliberate attempt by certain groups to deceive the public.”

The Commission emphasised that the decision not to disclose what it considers security sensitive information cannot be “misconstrued as providing a cover for the Commission to register voters from some undisclosed location.”

But in a strongly worded rebuttal, the group, in a statement issued on Wednesday, May 22, co-signed by Mark Ewusi Arkoh and Jude Balma, convenors of Election Watch Ghana, stated, among other concerns, that the EC’s “attempt to downplay the missing BVR kits as just ‘laptops’ is a brazen falsehood and a deliberate attempt to deceive the Ghanaian people.”

“This is a stark example of electoral incompetence, malfeasance and corporate mismanagement, and we will not stand idly by while the EC sabotages the integrity of our electoral process.”

“The current voter register they’re preparing is a fraudulent sham, riddled with errors and inconsistencies. It’s a ticking time bomb for our democracy, and we will demand an audit to expose the truth.

“We’re not just talking, we’re ready to take action. We’ll expose the EC’s so-called ‘academicians’ as electoral charlatans who can’t even add 1+1, let alone run a credible election,” it added.

According to the group, the EC’s actions are “a blatant assault on the democratic rights of Ghanaians” and demand immediate answers.

They further indicated that the Commission’s assertion that its figures for the total number of applicants registered tally with that of the political parties is “a bald-faced lie.”

“Ghanaians deserve better than a fraudulent voter register and an EC that engages in deceit and manipulation that indicates clearly the incompetence of Professors who can’t supervise the preparation of infographics let alone adding figures.

“The EC’s decision to keep serial numbers from its stakeholders is a plot to use the missing ones. At least we could’ve used the serial numbers provided to track all their operational locations and tally data recorded after every end of life.”

The ground said they would “fight tooth and nail” to protect the country’s democracy from the Commission’s “blatant attempts to undermine it.”

Below is the statement from Election Watch Ghana: