Budget for election 2016 cannot be made public - EC

Betty

December 18, 2015 2:48 PM

The EC says they are saving the hope to make during the procurement process and putting their budget out there in the public will defeat that goal.

Chairperson of EC, Charlotte Osei

The Electoral Commission says it is unable to make its budget known to the general public due to “ major negotiations with vendors and potential suppliers for election related procurement.”

“It would not be helpful for suppliers to know the amounts in the budget until we have concluded the procurement process.” According to the EC.

The EC was responding to some question IMANI Ghana posed in an email addressed to the Electoral Commission chairperson.

In the email IMANI disputed the 900 million dollar cost the EC, according to the media had announced in parliament as the cost for a new voters register and also called on the EC to make its budget for the 2016 public so the commission will not be seen as “opaque”

“There is good reason to doubt this figure seeing that the same Commission proposed a budget of $300m (£200m) for conducting the 2016 elections with less justifiable reasons. Apparently government says it can only fund $250m possibly with some donor help, but still leaving the remaining $50m that it expects other donors to fill. And that is a huge decision for the donors to make.” IMANI’s mail said.

The Executive Director Franklin Cudjoe also compared the cost incurred during the UK and Nigerian elections to indicate how costly Ghana’s is.

“The UK elections conducted seven months ago cost about £70m with nearly four times eligible voters on the voter register than Ghana's. It is even shocking to know that Africa's most populous nation Nigeria, conducted the most successful elections on the continent with a per capita cost (for each voter) at $12.5 . Ghana on the other hand seems to be proposing to spend $21.4 per voter WITHOUT TECHNICAL AUDIT OF THE REGISTER WHICH HAS A DISPUTABLE 14 MILLION VOTER POPULATION!”

Mrs Charlotte Osei indicated that there are differences in the UK and Ghana’s electoral system.

She also said the budget of the commission has been “discussed seven times with the Special Budget Committee of Parliament and the finance ministry, several other meetings with the technical committee of the finance ministry and the full House of Parliament between July and December 2015.” This according to the EC should be enough to prove its transparency .

Betty