Gh¢2.5million accreditation cash from journalists intact – EC boss

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei has told parliament that the Ghc2.5million accrued from fees charged journalists for accreditation cards during the 2016 general elections is intact and not missing.

Appearing before the committee of the whole in Parliament on Wednesday, Mrs Osei said the money was in the EC’s bank account at the GCB Bank.

She said the failure of the EC to have captured the amount in its financial statement for 2017 was an “oversight”.

She appeared before the Parliament Committee following a question filed by Subin Member of Parliament, Mr Eugene Antwi in connection with anomalies in the EC’s financial statement.

Prior to the elections, the EC charged journalists Gh¢10 for the accreditation card and Gh¢5 for the replacement of voter IDs.

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) which facilitated the accreditation process in turn charged Ghc20 from non-members of the GJA to facilitate the processing of the accreditation.

Mrs Osei said the charges were necessary because there was no way the EC could have estimated the number of journalists who would cover the elections so as to budget for them.