EC to discard thousands of 2016 functional laptops – Bright Simons

Honorary Vice President of policy think-tank Imani, Africa Bright Simons has revealed that thousands of laptops procured in 2016 and refreshed in 2017 which are functioning properly are going to be discarded and new ones procured as the Electoral Commission of Ghana persists in compiling a new register.

Mr Simons in a tweet remarks that even though the Ghana Air Force still uses aircraft manufactured in the 1960s to protect the territorial integrity of the country, the EC ironically finds it prudent to abandon useful laptops it bought and has used only a few times.

“The Ghana Air Force still uses the Fokker-27 400 from the 1960s. The Dutch stopped making them in 1987. It is defending the “territorial integrity” of Ghana bcos the country has a limited budget. Yet 1000s of 2016 laptops refreshed in 2017 can’t be used in the 2020 elections,” he tweeted sighted by MyNewsGh.com.

Mr Simons has been vocal against the decision by the EC to compile a new register, arguing among others that the EC’s claim that the technology systems it uses are obsolete is false.

But the EC says it is resolute that a new voters’ register is needed, and is going ahead with plans to compile a new one starting April 2020.

Opposition parties have demonstrated against the decision to compile a new register while many civil society organisations have expressed their opposition as well.