Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, accused the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) of discarding election equipment including biometric devices worth over $150 million.
He claims the equipment is still in excellent condition but is being thrown away for the EC to be able to procure new ones.
Mr. Simons made these allegations in a series of posts shared on X on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
He stated that, the EC has sent the equipment used in the 2020 election to a warehouse, intending to treat them as scrap after the Auditor General neglected to conduct an asset audit to determine whether there was a genuine need to purchase new equipment.
“After waiting for us to “forget” about the issue, the EC has quietly sneaked out the 1000s of devices purchased from 2016 to 2020 to a plant to “recycle” for cheap plastics & metals at a massive loss of millions of dollars! The IMF & World Bank subsidise this conduct!”
“The Auditor General REFUSED to conduct an asset audit of the existing EC biometric voting equipment to settle the issue of whether the country needed to spend $150m on new devices given the 1000s in stock of good condition. Finally, those devices have surfaced!” the IMANI Vice President said.
Mr. Simons emphasized that approximately 1000 devices were in stock and good working order, raising questions about the justification for spending such a substantial amount on replacements.
“To throw away $150 million or so of equipment, many in perfect working condition, without a proper asset audit, just so you can push through fresh procurement is SHAMEFUL & the clear reason why Ghana eventually went bankrupt & went to the IMF, which seems happy condoning this,” he added.
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— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) April 21, 2024
The Auditor General REFUSED to conduct an asset audit of the existing EC biometric voting equipment to settle the issue of whether the country needed to spend $150m on new devices given the 1000s in stock of good condition. Finally, those devices have surfaced! pic.twitter.com/SGzVESlkdp
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