‘Pink sheet’ contract was given to a credible company – EC

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, has dismissed reports that the Commission has awarded a contract worth almost US$9 million to a liquidated company in the United Kingdom for the printing of electoral sheets, commonly referred to as “pink sheets”. An Accra-based private newspaper, The Daily Statesman alleged in a publication on Thursday, November ...

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, has dismissed reports that the Commission has awarded a contract worth almost US$9 million to a liquidated company in the United Kingdom for the printing of electoral sheets, commonly referred to as “pink sheets”.

An Accra-based private newspaper, The Daily Statesman alleged in a publication on Thursday, November 3, 2016, that the EC had awarded a US$8.95 million contract to the British firm, to print electoral sheets for the December polls.

But Mrs. Osei in an interview with the BBC’s Akwasi Sarpong in London today [Thursday], debunked the claims, adding that the contract that was awarded was also financially prudent.

She clarified that, the EC “awarded the contract of the printing of some of the election forms to a company that has always printed it for us and has now relocated to Ghana which made their pricing better for us. This time, we did not have to bear the high freight charges that we would have had to bear and also the time for shipping.”

The EC Chairperson also asured that, the company that was awarded the contract, was “a company that has come to set up in Ghana, and is properly registered in Ghana, went through a rigorous procurement process, and satisfied all the requirements of Ghanaian law.”

It’s impossible for gov’t to influence election results

Another assurance Mrs. Osei made during the interview was that there would be no external influence in the EC’s conduct of the polls; as she discounted the possibility of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), or any other political party influencing the results of the upcoming elections.

Mrs. Osei, who was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama in 2015, said any political party with the intention of rigging the elections would have a difficult time doing so.

She said, “it is impossible for the Electoral Commission to be influenced by government because our processes are so transparent and so inclusive that it is impossible for the Electoral Commission itself to even manipulate. There are seven of us at the Commission, there is head office directors, regional directors. We are going to be working with about almost 146,000 staff on election day; and at the 29,000 polling stations and coalition centers, all candidates and parties have agents there.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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