Bright Simons, Vice President, IMANI Center for Policy and Education
Bright Simons, the Vice President of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, says the Electoral Commission, has, through past actions, massively reduced its trustworthiness and hence should not be trusted by Ghanaians.
Detailing why IMANI Africa has refused to give the EC the benefit of the doubt, Simons indicated that, the EC over the years has spewed more lies than truths about their procurement work and IMANI has spent time reading 1000s of pages about their procurement work to be able to tell that they have not been entirely truthful.
“We found them to be lying at every turn. Trust & lies don't mix,” Bright Simons wrote in a post on his social media handle.
“They announced to the whole nation that since 2011, they hadn't bought new BVDs & BVRs. Lies. They spent $60m on these machines between 2015 & 2019. They rigged the $70m tender for the latest equipment from Thales so badly the head of the procurement committee resigned,” his post read further.
Read below Bight Simons’ full post
1/ Why does IMANI always refuse to give EC the benefit of the doubt?
A. Because we know them more than you do. We've spent time reading 1000s of pages about their procurement work. You haven't. Trust us, not them.
B. We found them to be lying at every turn. Trust & lies don't mix.
C. They announced to the whole nation that since 2011, they hadn't bought new BVDs & BVRs. Lies. They spent $60m on these machines between 2015 & 2019.
D. They rigged the $70m tender for the latest equipment from Thales so badly the head of the procurement committee resigned.
E. They decided to pay over $3.5m for biometric software from Lithuania that the vendor sells for $350k. IMANI published the full scoping study online so everyone can check for themselves.
F. They have never passed an asset audit & never auction discarded new machines.
G. They demonised their predecessors & called the vendors who worked on the 2016 system, which per CODEO reports, was more efficient end-to-end compared to 2020, crooked.
H. Turns out that as late as 2019 and 2020, they were still paying the old vendors millions for services.
I. Had they spent the $15m we believe they needed for new equipment for new polling stations (instead of $70m) & not tossed $60m worth of good devices, they could've spent $5m in increasing collation centres
J. Their new transmission network would not have failed to come online.
2/ An EC that wasn't driven by procurement scams would've been more open to consultations with CSOs & the Opposition & addressed their issues in good-faith, not refuse to engage them throughout the pre-election season. That is how to build TRUST. And thus BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT!
1/ Why does IMANI always refuse to give EC the benefit of the doubt?
A. Bcos we know them more than you do. We've spent time reading 1000s of pages about their procurement work. You haven't. Trust us, not them. ????B. We found them to be lying at every turn. Trust & lies don't mix
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) December 13, 2020
C. They announced to the whole nation that since 2011, they hadn't bought new BVDs & BVRs. Lies. They spent $60m on these machines between 2015 & 2019.
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) December 13, 2020
D. They rigged the $70m tender for the latest equipment from Thales so badly the head of the procurement committee resigned.
E. They decided to pay over $3.5m for biometric software frm Lithuania that the vendor sells for $350k. IMANI published the full scoping study online so everyone can check for themselves.
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) December 13, 2020
F. They have never passed an asset audit & never auction discarded new machines.
G. They demonised their predecessors & called the vendors who worked on the 2016 system, which per CODEO reports, was more efficient end-to-end compared to 2020, crooked.
D. Turns out that as late as 2019 and 2020, they were still paying the old vendors millions for services.
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) December 13, 2020
I. Had they spent the $15m we believe they needed for new equipment for new polling stations (instead of $70m) & not tossed $60m worth of good devices, they could've spent $5m in increasing collation centers
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) December 13, 2020
J. Their new transmission network would not have failed to come online.
2/ An EC that wasn't driven by procurement scams would've been more open to consultations with CSOs & the Opposition & addressed their issues in good-faith, not refuse to engage them throughout the pre-election season. That is how to build TRUST. And thus BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT!
— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) December 13, 2020
