Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante-Bekwai, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has warned of possible dangers ahead of the November polls if government delays in the release of the entire election budget to the Electoral Commission (EC).
He said the development if not checked will affect the procurement of election devices such as the Biometric Voters’ Device (BVD) which will affect the conduct of the 2016 general election.
“The Electoral Commission said they have finished their procurement but they have not paid for them. The technical equipment that they are procuring shouldn’t we be test-running them now so that if there are any defect we correct them before the D-day?” he asked
With barely four months to the crucial November 2016 polls, the EC has been undertaking various activities. Among them is the re-registration of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) registrants whose names were deleted following a Supreme Court (SC) order and the exhibition of the voters’ register exercise which spans 21-days.
Even though the Commission has said it is ready for the election, many have questioned its preparedness considering it is yet to receive the entire ₵1.2 billion it budgeted for the election.
Employment Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, earlier said government has released the amount of ₵600,000 to the Commission out of the total amount it requested.
Proffering an explanation to the development, Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, told Parliament government is ready to release the remaining amount on a need basis.
This, the MP who is also a ranking member of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Committee finds troubling.
He has entreated the Commission to demand payment of its allocations, saying, per his experience in government “money is money only when it reaches your hand.”
This, he wants the EC to do to avoid what happened in 2012 where some persons were unable to vote because of the malfunctioning of the BVD.
Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
