Trust me to do a perfect job - EC Boss Jean Mensa begs

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission(EC) of Ghana, Jean Adukwei Mensa has said her outfit is clean and Ghanaians can trust them to do a perfect job during the 2020 polls.

According to IMANI Ghana boss, Franklin Cudjoe, EC’s recent procurement process for the selection of vendors for the Biometric Voter Management Solution (BVMS) is fraught with irregularities, claiming that Commission was going to pay for more contrary to the earlier position that money would be saved.

However, Jean Mensa said the procurement process was above board, having gone through the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) for the approval of the Commission’s tendering process.

“All the four companies shortlisted demonstrated their technical capabilities openly, and that the vendor with the competitive price was selected for the building of the data centre as well as the supply of biometric materials, adding that the credibility of the election is their main focus”, she said.

“The EC would be saving not over GH¢173 million on a new register compared to refurbishing or upgrading the BVMS supplied by STL,” she added.

According to Jean Mensa, about $74,364,500 was requested by the vendor for refurbishing the old BVMS supplied as against procuring new BVMS for 2020 at a total cost of $56,000,000, saving $18,364,500 or GH¢104,677,650.

The Commission is embarking on the compilation of the new register from April 18 to May 30.

But the forces against the new register led by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) insist that the old register is their best bet for the election 2020— anything less is doom for the country.