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Today ASEPA joined IMANI to hold a Press briefing at the Ghana International Press Center here in Accra.
One of the key highlights of today’s briefing is the fact that the Electoral Commission has been lying to Ghanaians that the BVD and BVR machines are obsolete due to old age because the procurement was done in 2011.
However report of the Special Budget Committee of Parliament suggests that the Electoral Commission procured new sets of BVDs and BVRs.
Atleast 2500 of these machines has been procured between 2016 and 2018.
It is therefore surprising that Parliament, particularly the Special Budget Committee has watched on whiles the Electoral Commission has perpetuated such blatant lies without setting the record straight.
Records of the Finance Ministry also suggests that over GHC40million has been spent on the refurbishment of the machines since 2015, it is therefore not true that the machines have not seen any upgrade or servicing since 2011.
Finally, we call on the Electoral Commission to terminate the vending contract given to Thales Gelmatos due to its reputational crisis.
-As we speak Thales is under serious investigations in South Africa for bribing the former South African President, Jacob Zuma
-Estonia has currently sued Thales Gelmatos for over €160Million for poor handling of its National ID card
-In Cambodia Thales is currently under sanctions by the World bank for procurement malpractices.
-In Gabon, Thales is currently under serious investigations for messing up their Electoral system.
Considering the above information, the E.C cannot sacrifice its credibility by handing over the procurement of such important machines and the entire vending process to Thales Gelmatos.
We therefore call for the immediate termination of any arrangements between the E.C of Ghana and Thales Gelmatos.
Signed:
Mensah Thompson
Executive Director, ASEPA
0542120628
Cc.
The Electoral Commission
The Speaker of Parliament
All Media Houses
Source: Broadcastergh.com/Ayisah Foster
