I don't know where pink sheets were printed -Afari Gyan
Chairman for the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan has told the Supreme Court that he has no knowledge of where the pink sheets which were used in the 2012 General Elections were printed.
Advertisement
He was sure it was printed overseas but said he never bothered to find out exactly where they were printed because he was “fully satisfied and knew that the Ghanaian company would be able to deliver.”
Responding to questions Monday from lead counsel for the petitioners, Mr Philip Addison, the chairman of the second respondent body in the ongoing election petition told the court that the contract for the printing of pink sheets was awarded to a printing firm in Ghana, Buck Press, who also contracted “somebody abroad to do the printing.”
According to Dr Afari-Gyan, the ballot papers were printed in Ghana, however, “pink sheets, I believe, were printed overseas” since “no printing house in Ghana has the capacity to print the pink sheets.”
When Mr Addison further asked where specifically the pink sheets were printed, Dr Afari-Gyan told the court that he did not know where they were printed.
He said, “We deal with Ghanaian companies and they also contract somebody abroad to do the printing.”
He further said that he did not bother to find out because “I didn’t think it was important.”
“So the Ghanaian contractor never informed you where it was going to be printed?” Mr Addison asked.
“My Lord, I don’t know.”
“But you just have the idea that it was printed abroad?”
“My Lords I know that for a fact.”
Dr Afari-Gyan further told the court that the political parties were not informed about the printing of the pink sheets because “it is not everything we have to tell the parties.”
He said 27,000 booklets of pink sheets, each containing 18 individual sheets were ordered to be printed after balloting for positioning of candidates had been completed.
Monday's sitting lasted less than expected as the parties rose early to meet with accounting firm KPMG over its auditing of pink sheet evidence.
By Jasmine Arku/Graphic.com.gh