Care Ghana Demands Forensic Audit Of EC’s Account

Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana (“CARE” GHANA) is calling on the Auditor General to conduct a forensic audit of the accounts of the Electoral Commission (EC) to authenticate and validate the Commission’s claim of saving this country ninety million United States Dollar (US$90m) in the 2020 elections.
According to them, their request has become necessary because, at every given opportunity, the Electoral Commission is always in a haste to announce how much the Commission has saved Ghana in the conduct of the 2020 general elections.
Read the full Statement below:
“CARE” GHANA CALLS FOR A FORENSIC AUDIT TO AUTHENTICATE EC’S CLAIM OF SAVING GHANA $90 MILLION
Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana (“CARE” GHANA) calls on the Auditor General to conduct a forensic audit of the accounts of the Electoral Commission (EC) to authenticate and validate the Commission’s claim of saving this country ninety million United States Dollar (US$90m) in the 2020 elections
This call comes on the back of a recent pronouncement by Mrs. Jean Mensa Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) at the 2021 ECOWAS Parliamentary Seminar held in Winniba in the Central Region.
Mrs. Jean Mensa stated among other things that, the Commission saved Ghana $90 million in the 2020 elections without providing any proof.
Our request has become necessary because, at every given opportunity, the Electoral Commission is always in a haste to announce how much the Commission has saved Ghana in the conduct of the 2020 general elections.
However, given the controversies that the EC was engulfed with particularly regarding its procurement processes, it would be in the interest of the Commission and the Nation at large to conduct a forensic audit of EC’s accounts to ascertain or otherwise the veracity of US$ 90m cost saving claims among others.
“CARE” GHANA does not want to believe that the Commission is engaged in some self-serving aggrandizement.
If indeed the Commission saved the Nation the amount per its claim then, of course, it deserves commendation, and “CARE” GHANA would not hesitate so to do.
It is the reason we are calling for this forensic audit so that the public interest would be better served.
Before any of such forensic audits, we call on the Electoral Commission as a matter of accountability and transparency to publish a preliminary report detailing the cost of registration, cost of exhibition, cost of printing, cost of BVRs, cost of voting materials, cost of printing, cost of transporting electoral materials and personnel and the cost of hiring temporal staff and engaging consultants in the 2020 elections to sustain its claim.
This will establish the legitimacy of the claim and enhance the credibility and confidence the public should repose in the Commission.
Thank You
Signed
David Kumi Addo
Executive Director (“CARE” GHANA)
Source: Opemsuo.com/ Priscilla Fordjour