Why Ghana electoral commission burn thousands of ballot papers before 7 December elections
Wia dis foto come from, Ghana EC
Di electoral commission of Ghana don burn nearly 20,000 presidential and parliamentary ballot papers ahead of di 7 December elections.
Dis na afta di commission don find say di ballot papers for two regions (Ahafo and Volta) don get problem wit dia serial numbers.
Inside one statement, di electoral commission explain say “our audit during di printing process don find say di printing house wey dey work on dis two regions get wahala wia don affect di serial numbers.”
“As we don find dis problem we decide say we go use manual system take fill di gaps for di serial numbers but dat process no dey reliable, na so we decide say we go print di ballot papers again,” di EC deputy chairman wey dey in charge of operations Samuel Tettey bin tok.
Na so di commission explain say dem go destroy di ballot papers wey get di problem wia dem don dey reprint dem.
Di opposition national democratic congress (NDC) bin chook mouth for all di process of di kontri electoral commission sake of dem say dey gat to put pressure on di election management body to do di right tin.
Di party begin to open eye for di EC from di time dem dey compile di voters register
Dem tok say ghosts don dey inside di register wey dey also allege say di electoral commission don transfer some voters from dia constituency to oda places without dia knowledge.
End of Di one wey oda users dey read well well
Na so di electoral commission meet all di political parties wia dey address di mata.
But di opposition party still bin dey open eye for di commission.
On Thursday, 21 November, di kontri election management body don carry more dan 330 bags of ballot papers go Nsawam for di eastern region to burn dem. Deputy director of electoral services tok.
Journalists say dem decide to burn di ballot paper for public so nobody go tok say dey do kululu.
“Una see how dis burning process dey transparent, how we don do am for open. Di electoral commission bin do dis sake of we wan protect di integrity of di ballot papers,” oga Asante Kissi bin explain.
“Di police dey here, di national investigation bureau pipo dey here wit national security and di agents of di political parties all dey here to confam say we don dey burn di ballot papers.”
All di party agents bin sign di certificate of destruction bifor dey pour petrol on top di ballot papers wia dey burn am.
Agent of di goment party di new patriotic party (NPP) George Nkrumah tok say “we don witness say di EC burn di ballot papers afta we see di serial number wahala. Di commission don correct di problem so we dey okay.”
For di opposition party di national democratic congress (NDC) agent, Senam Nyamdi, di party go continue to “keep eagle eyes for di electoral commission till di election day.”
“Di process dey okay, we go dey here to ensure say all di ballot papers don burn kpata kpata bifor we go leave dis place. We wan ensure say no ballot paper go comot dis place go anywhere.”
Details of di ballot papers wia di EC burn
For di purpose of transparency, di electoral commission don explain to journalists di category of ballot papers wia dey don burn.
Di deputy director for electoral services Asante Kissi say “we no want make pipo see dis video on top social media and spread fake news and misinformation dat be why we carry you come here.”
Dis na di breakdown of di ballot papers dem burn
Volta Region
Presidential ballot papers - 184 bags
Parliamentary ballot papers - 66 bags
Ahafo Region
Presidential ballot papers - 67 bags
Parliamentary ballot papers - 21 bags
Number of ballot papers inside di bags
Volta region
Presidential
- 100 booklets - 9,536 papers
- 50 booklets - 1,119 papers
- 25 booklets - 1,082 papers
- 10 booklets - 1,970 papers
Ahafo Region
Presidential
- 100 booklets - 3,344 papers
- 50 booklets - 393 papers
- 25 booklets - 401 papers
- 10 booklets - 654 papers
How electoral commission dey destroy excess/faulty ballot papers
Afta di EC don hire companies to print di ballot papers for any election, dey go ensure say dey go destroy di excess papers and odas wey get wahala.
According to di commission, di printing houses always bin get waste/damaged ballots as dem dey print di plenti booklets.
So wetin dem dey do be say dey go shred di waste and excess ballot for di printing house wia dem dey print am in di presence of political party agents.
Afta dey don tear tear dis papers, den dey go burn dem togeda wit di plates wey get di design of each ballot.
Dis burning don dey happun for incinerators wia some printing houses already get for dia compound and oda public places if di printing house no get incinerator.
Di political party agents wia don dey dis printing houses go sign “undertaking of consent” bifor dey go burn di papers.
In 2020, di electoral commission supervise similar process wia dey burn excess ballot from di printing process for dat election.
At dat time, di commission don shred di ballot for di printing houses wia dey carry go di old fadama site wia dem burn am, in di presence of all di party agents and heavy security.
Electoral commission select companies to print ballot papers for di elections
On 9 October, di electoral commission announce say 8 companies go print di ballot for di 7 December elections.
Dis dey include Buck Press, Sea print limited, Acts commercials, Ghana publishing company limited, Innolink limited, check point limited and Yasarko company limited.
Afta dem announce dis companies, di commission tok di various political parties say make dem submit names of dia agents wey go witness di printing process.
Di commission begin to dey print di ballot papers on 11 October.
On 27 October, di electoral commission don announce say dey don replace one printing house wia dey initially select as part of di companies wia go print di papers.
Dis na afta di company (Yasarko press) don tok di EC say one of dia machines bin get fault.
For dis election, total number of valid voters na 18,774,159 wia dem go vote for 40,975 polling stations across di kontri, according to di EC.
Out of di 40,975 polling centres, 328 na for special voting (voting wey go happun on 2 December) for specific group of voters wia include journalists and security agencies.
For pesin to dey qualify for dis special voting, dey gat to submit application wit evidence to di electoral commission say dem go dey engaged on di main election day - 7 December.
