The Founding President of IMANI Africa policy think tank, Franklin Cudjoe, has iterated his mistrust in the activities of the Electoral Commission (EC).
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He argued that the Electoral Commission wouldn’t have felt the need to alert the public about the missing laptops if it hadn’t been brought to light by the minority in Parliament.
At a media briefing in response to the allegation of seven missing Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) by minority leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Commission said, “It was during this maintenance that we discovered the theft of five (5) laptops from the Biometric Voter Registration kits, not seven BVDs as erroneously stated.”
However, the IMANI Boss remained unconvinced by the explanations provided by the Electoral Commission.
In an interview on TV3’s Ghana Tonight show, on Wednesday, March 20, Franklin Cudjoe indicated, that “I have never trusted the EC and for good reasons, as I stated in that statement. First of all, you know what they did to my people of SALL on the eve of the last elections clandestinely and in a roguish manner just for electoral politics and as we speak, they’ve [the people of SALL] never had a representation and they [the EC] never did anything about it.”
He added that the actions of the Commission have consistently created doubts regarding the electoral processes, positing that “look at the last elections, I mean the very thing they did, announcing figures multiple times.”
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In furtherance Cudjoe remarked that the actions of the EC are not merely indicative of incompetence, but rather suggest a deliberate “grand plan” aimed at undermining something.
“Some people think that it is actually incompetence. I see it as a grand plan,” he said, adding, “When people want to destroy something and you think that they are incompetent at it, it is actually a ruse so you assume that they don’t know what they are doing but they are actually clever at doing it.”
According to the president of IMANI Africa, the Electoral Commission might be seeking an opportunity to squander more funds, hinting that the disappearance of the laptops could be linked to a scheme to purchase new equipment.
“They messed us up and wasted that amount of money and now they are finding ways and means and trying to come back and say that they want to spend more money again. Again, the word is true; I don’t trust them one bit.
“When I heard that they claimed they’ve lost some biometric equipment and now they are claiming laptops which is all part of the system anyway, I told Parliament and the Finance Ministry not to entertain them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the minority leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, has entreated the Police Service to “immediately issue a statement giving us the details of their investigations so far,” adding, “I am concerned and worried because that devices in the hands of an unknown person can compromise the future elections”.
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