Parliament grills EC boss
Parliament was divided yesterday when the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, appeared before the House to answer questions relating to the money collected from journalists for accreditation cards for the coverage of the 2016 elections, as well as that collected for the replacement of lost voter identity cards (IDs).
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While the Minority, led by its Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, found her answers satisfactory, the Majority, with its Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, indicated that the answers were not satisfactory.
The question was posed by the MP for Subin, Mr Eugene Boakye Antwi, and after his follow-up questions, members from both sides of the House had turns to ask questions.
The answer that generated a lot of interest and follow-up questions was Mrs Osei's explanation to the effect that the money collected for the printing of accreditation cards and replacement of voter ID cards in 2016 was not captured in the 2017 budget as part of internally-generated funds due to an oversight.
One answer that did not satisfy many MPs was Mrs Osei's response to a question by Mr Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu that she was speaking for herself.
He wanted to know when she discovered that the money was sitting in the account and was not captured in the budget, to which she said she had gone for the bank statement to answer questions relating to the replaced ID cards.
Mrs Osei said she was not the whole commission and that there were other people working in some aspects, adding: "I am speaking for myself."
That response generated a lot of chorus in the House and the Majority Leader said the answer was very informative.
When pressed further, Mrs Osei said she had not spoken to the directors in charge yet, and that she would speak to the issues only after she had spoken with them.
"I have not spoken to them yet. Unless I engage them, I cannot give any other explanation. If you allow me, I will go back and speak to the technical people and get back to you," she said.
Flanked by the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, to her right and the Deputy EC Chairperson in charge of Operations, Alhaji Amadu Sulley, to her left, Mrs Osei said the money realised from the printing of accreditation cards and the replacement of ID cards was not lodged into the Consolidated Fund.
She said the last time she checked, the money was still in the GCB Bank account opened for that purpose.
She said the money was intact, as the EC could not spend it without clearance from the Ministry of Finance.
Also present was a member of the EC, Hajia Sahadatu Maiga, and the directors for Human Resource, Electoral Services and Communications of the commission.
Details of transactions
Mrs Osei said the EC had 4,271 applications from interested media houses for accreditation.
She said the commission charged GH¢10 for each accreditation and that covered the actual cost of printing the cards, lamination and the provision of tags.
She said the printer charged GH¢8 per card, exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT) and National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL).
"We charged GH¢10 because we had to cover the administrative cost and VAT charges," she said.
She said she had copies of the payment vouchers, the invoice from the printer and official receipts.
The EC Chairperson said there were also 273 journalists, technicians, political parties and candidates’ representatives and observers who were accredited without charge to cover the processes at the national collation centre.
She said in total, the EC collected GH¢42,710 from media houses and paid the printer GH¢42,713.
"In sum, we issued 4,544 cards because that included the 273 people who were allowed into the national collation centre," she said.
Replacement cost
Mrs Osei said the EC charged GH¢5 for each voter identity card that was replaced.
She said the commission opened an account at the Boundary Road branch of the GCB Bank on Dec 27, 2016 and the money for the replacement of ID cards was lodged into that account.
She said as of July 24, 2017, the EC had realised GH¢2,590,000.