[ 2016-11-16 ]

NPP ‘pink sheet allegations’ empty, regrettable - EC
The Electoral Commission says the opposition New
Patriotic Party (NPP) allegation that the
Commission was scheming to rig the December
elections by printing the Statement of Poll and
the Declaration of Results forms, commonly
referred to as Pink Sheets, without serial numbers
is untrue and unbecoming of a political party.

A counter press release signed by the EC’s Head
of Communications, Eric Dzakpasu, says NPP erred
when it rushed to the media with unfounded claims
of non-existent plans to manipulate election
results.

“It very regrettable for a political party to
engage in pre-emptive allegations and suspicions
with the intention to unnecessarily heighten
public tensions ahead of the elections,” the EC
statement said.

The NPP issued a statement Tuesday, November 15,
2016, describing as an illegality the decision by
the Commission to print the Pink Sheets without
serial numbers.

According to the party, without serial numbers on
the forms, they could easily be manipulated to
favour a particular party.

“The Public Elections Regulations, 2016 (CI 94)
in the Schedules part at pages 48 and 49 has a
sample of the exact format that the law says Form
Eight or the Pink Sheet for both parliamentary and
presidential results should take.

Material to the issue today is that at the top
left hand of Form Eight is space for the unique
serial number for each form to be inserted,” the
NPP had said.

However, in a swift rebuttal, the EC says the NPP
could have checked with the Commission before
proceeding to make such wild claims.
Tackling NPP’s claims in a 7-point explanation,
the EC said the following:

1. The Commission in its continuous quest of
ensuring the credibility and transparency in the
upcoming General Elections has decided to
personalise the Statement of Poll and the
Declaration of Results Forms.

For the first time, the said Forms would be
polling station specific and would, therefore, not
require the exercise of discretion during
distribution by Election Officials. Every Form
would have embossed on it, the polling station
name, the polling station code AND serial
numbers.

2. In respect of this personalization, and in
anticipation of possible mistakes and
cancellations by Presiding Officers on these
forms, provision has been made for the printing of
3000 extra copies of the Forms to cater for such
unplanned incidents. These 3000 extra copies have
been designed with a different colour, with the
words "REPLACEMENT" embossed on them for ease of
differentiation. The replacement forms cannot,
therefore, be confused in any way with the
personalised polling station specific forms.

3. It is false that Aero Vote was awarded a
contract worth US$8.95 million for the printing of
the Statement of Polls and Declaration of Results
Forms. The contract awarded to Aero Vote by the
Commission is way below US$2 million in value
(GHS7.2 million).

4. We have been informed that no management staff
of Aero Vote told officials of the NPP ‘that
they have been told not to emboss serial numbers
on the pink sheets”.

This is an untrue statement. The contract terms
and security features on the Pink Sheets as agreed
between the Electoral Commission and Aero Vote are
clear to the contractual parties. Further, the NPP
has no privity of contract with Aero Vote and
therefore has no legal basis for engaging directly
with the company (which is a vendor of the EC), on
their contractual obligations to the EC.

Such enquiries should be made directly to the EC
and not to a vendor. Vendors must be allowed the
peace of mind and space to perform their
contractual obligations to the people of Ghana
through the EC. Vendors cannot and should not be
reporting to political parties.

5. The NPP says in its Press Release, that
“today, Aero Vote ….started the printing of
the said forms”. Again, this claim is false.
Printing of the Forms will start on Thursday, 17
November 2016.

6. For the first time in our electoral history,
these forms will be printed in Ghana with enhanced
security features that significantly boost the
integrity of results collation in our elections.

7. Again, for the first time, political parties
have been invited by the Commission to send their
representatives to the premises of the company
during the printing of the Statement of Poll and
Declaration of Results forms. Police personnel
would also be deployed to the premises during the
printing process.

Already the governing National Democratic Congress
has condemned the allegations by the opposition.

NDC Director of Elections, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo
said the political parties have been briefed
adequately about the EC’s plans and process in
respect of the printing of the forms.

The EC has urged “political parties to desist
from making unsubstantiated allegations about the
electoral process and work with the Commission to
deliver credible and transparent elections to the
people of Ghana.”

Source - Joyfm

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