2016 Elections Will Cost Ghana GH¢ 1.2 Billion

Commissioner of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei has revealed to parliament that the general elections scheduled for 2016 would cost the nation about GH¢ 1.2 billion explaining the cost exclusively covers all 30,000 polling stations as well as a possible run-off.
“We also premised the budget on an exchange rate of 3.89 cedis to the dollar. The total budget for the elections is GHC 1,470,000,000. if we include the administration and other costs which are not directly election related, it gives us a budget of 1.2 billion.
In the budget ceilings we have announced by the Finance Ministry, we have a budget of 800 million for elections, the first round so this gives us a funding gap of 400 million Ghana cedis. I think we have a budget of about 350 million, so there is another shortfall there. However the budget makes provision for all the reforms which we have agreed with the political parties,”she revealed.
Meanwhile the Electoral Commission is yet to officially decide on whether or not to go by a new voters register following a national inter-party stakeholders meeting which saw the various political parties and also civil society groups espouse various stances on whether or not a new voter’s register is needed.