Chairperson of the Ghana's Electoral Commission replies my letter within an hour. Very professionally swift. She says the media especially TV3 got it wrong. She also explains why Ghana's budget may be different from others and cannot decide on costs until an exhaustive process of consultations with vendors and finance authorities are completed. She does not mention any estimated budget.
Read her response below:
Dear Franklin, Thank you for your email. I would like to suggest that in future, please check the accuracy of media reports with the institution before writing a reaction and sharing it publicly.
It is untrue that we said a new register would cost $900m. Yesterday in Parliament we also shared in detail, the cost differences between elections in Ghana and other countries in the sub region and indeed the UK. There are several events and expenses we incur in Ghana that do not happen in the sub region and the U.K. The UK for instance does not have a biometric register or verification system. The structure of their election is structurally very different from Ghana's.
Again, having this context would help for a structured and purposeful analysis. Sharing our budget publicly at this time may also not be too helpful. For instance, we are in major negotiations with vendors and potential suppliers for election related procurement. As we agreed with the finance ministry and the special budget committee of Parliament, there are savings we hope to make during the procurement process. It would not be helpful for suppliers to know the amounts in the budget until we have concluded the procurement process.
The Commision's detailed budgeted I must add, has been discussed seven times with the Special Budget Committee of Parliament and the finance ministry, several other meetings with the technical committee of the finance ministry and the full House of Parliament between July and December 2015.
We would urge some restraint before we all come to conclusions. Have a lovely day..
Warm regards,..."
My original letter December 18, 2015
Dear Mrs. Charlotte Osei,
My attention has been drawn to a TV 3 news report which attributes the header “New voters' register will cost Ghana 900 million dollars – EC” to you. The report mentioned that you revealed this figure to a bewildered Parliament, at least the Minority side that wanted further detail about the budget.
I am very sure every Ghanaian including me, will like to know how you arrived at what looks like an outrageous figure of $900m were the Commission to compile a new voter register.
There is good reason to doubt this figure seeing that the same Commission proposed a budget of $300m (£200m) for conducting the 2016 elections with less justifiable reasons. Apparently government says it can only fund $250m possibly with some donor help, but still leaving the remaining $50m that it expects other donors to fill. And that is a huge decision for the donors to make.
The UK elections conducted seven months ago cost about £70m with nearly four times eligible voters on the voter register than Ghana's. It is even shocking to know that Africa's most populous nation Nigeria, conducted the most successful elections on the continent with a per capita cost (for each voter) at $12.5 . Ghana on the other hand seems to be proposing to spend $21.4 per voter WITHOUT TECHNICAL AUDIT OF THE REGISTER WHICH HAS A DISPUTABLE 14 MILLION VOTER POPULATION!
In order to not to come across as shockingly weird and depressingly opaque as some recent independent audits of the Commission have suggested, it will be in the interest of transparency for the Commission to fully disclose the EC's budgets to the public. Perhaps the Ministry of Finance must also be interested in helping us understand why it will even consider this budget in the first place.
I know you are still settling in one of the most difficult jobs to have in this country. However, seeing that our neighbour, Nigeria is now the toast of the world when it comes to conducting minimally flawless and cost-effective elections on the continent, I want us to do better than Nigeria as before.
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