The Chair of the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC), Charlotte Osei, insists there is nothing wrong in awarding part of the contract of printing ballot papers of the December 7 elections to Aero Vote.
This is in reply to a newspaper publication by The New Statesman that the contract has been awarded to a liquidated UK firm.
Speaking in a Facebook Live interview with BBC Africa’s Akwasi Sarpong on Thursday, November 3, Mrs Osei said Aero Vote has since relocated to Ghana and was dealt with as a Ghanaian firm.
What is more, she pointed out, the firm has passed all tests under the procurement regulations and it would have been unfair to overlook it given its track record.
The newspaper had alleged that the collapsed firm, owned by a Kenyan and three Britons of Indian descent, went insolvent after it failed to win the contract of printing ballots for Kenya’s 2013 elections.
“Companies move from one country to the other for all kinds of reason,” the head of Ghana’s elections management body said.
“That will be unfairly penalizing companies that have relocated to Ghana,” she added.
She said it is even a welcoming coincidence that “they have moved to Ghana. At least they are hiring Ghanaians and creating jobs in Ghana”.
Mrs Osei said the UK firm was not even being dealt with by the Commission directly previously.
She said it was dealt with through agents.
“We were not even printing directly with them,” she stressed.
“We were working through agents and now we actually can work with them directly which is actually a more efficient process for us and it is cheaper.”
The firm is expected to begin the printing of the parliamentary ballot papers as positions have already been decided.
That for the presidential is still awaiting the expiration of all the legal cases by the disqualified aspirants.
But the former Commissioner of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) assured that the Commission, and by extension the country, is “set” for Wednesday, December 7, 2016.
“Ghana is set. Elections are going to be very transparent, very inclusive, very credible and there is lots of integrity mechanisms in our system to ensure that what people of Ghana put in the ballot box is what the Electoral Commission is going to declare as results.”
Sign up for GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
