2020 election was funded without donor support – Jean Mensa

Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa has revealed that the just-ended elections in Ghana were funded without donor support.

She explained that the Commission put to prudent use, the resources it had generated internally.

Mrs Mensa said these when announcing the result of the presidential elections on Wednesday, December 9.

She said “This strategy involved our entire staff, who all worked tirelessly behind the scenes, burning the midnight oil to achieve the results we witness today. Our mantra was that while the country may be on lockdown, as a Commission, we had to keep moving forward to achieve the enormous tasks ahead of us."

“And so distinguished ladies and gentlemen, here we are today. The results are evident for all to see. Indeed, hard work, determination and focus, coupled with God’s grace has paid off. Today we have succeeded in reforming our entire Biometric Voter Management System, procuring and deploying robust equipment and devices including the Biometric Verification Devices, the biometric registration kits, a user-friendly software to govern the entire Biometric voter registration and verification system, and a brand-new data center amongst others – all of which went through an international competitive tendering process."

“Today, we can all be proud of a brand-new Biometric Voter Register that reflects unique individuals who are eligible to vote. With determination and focus, we were able to prepare a Register that recorded seventeen million and twenty-seven thousand, six hundred and forty-one (17,027,641) eligible voters in just 38 days in the rainy season of Ghana. Thankfully, the just ended election did not witness issues of missing names, misplacement of polling stations among others."

“Again, we can be proud of the fact that for the first time in our history, the election was funded without donor assistance. I can assure you that we put our resources to prudent use."

“Furthermore, we can be proud of the fact that more than 95% of our procurement for the 2020 Election was done through an open, competitive tender process as opposed to sole sourcing and restricted tendering as was the case in the past. This no doubt ensured value for money in all our processes. At the right time, the Commission will share with you a report on its procurement processes and savings made to date.”