Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, the Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission (EC), has provided reasoning for the commission’s choice to auction off outdated Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs).
Earlier, the policy think tank IMANI Africa urged the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the EC’s actions concerning the disposal of election-related materials.
Franklin Cudjoe, IMANI Africa’s Founding President, stated that the commission’s decisions regarding the disposal of laptops, digital cameras, printers, scanners, and fingerprint verifiers seemed conflicted between its obligations to utilize national resources judiciously and its favoritism towards commercial vendors.
Cudjoe asserted that such behavior amounted to “misappropriation,” “wastage,” and “misuse” of resources, especially given the nation’s fiscal constraints.
However, the EC revealed in a statement that outdated BVDs, acquired prior to the 2012 elections, were utilized in the 2019 District Level Elections (DLE) by the current Commission.
Despite recommendations from the Managers of the Commission’s Biometric Infrastructure advising against it due to the devices being at the end of their lifespan, the previous administration had planned to refurbish these obsolete devices for the 2018 Referendum and the 2019 DLE.
In an interview on Citi TV, Dr. Quaicoe said the EC received permission from the Finance Ministry to auction their obsolete equipment, including the BVDs, adding that they acted within the law.
He elaborated that the auction was duly advertised in the Daily Graphic and that the recycling company in Madina, one of six auctioneers, was chosen following an interview process.
“I want to put on record that the BVDs and BVRs were those which were used before 2020; we acquired new ones. So, once we acquired new ones, these ones were obsolete, we’re not using them. They were still occupying space, so the Commission wrote to the district valuer, STC, they did the evaluation of all the materials, and we have documentation to that effect.
“We sent permission to the Ministry of Finance seeking permission to dispose of. They also replied and gave us the permission to go ahead. The Commission interviewed six auctioneers and one of them was picked. And a little recycling company bought them located at Oyarifa; they have EPA approval to do all those things. The auctioneer advertised it, look for February 1, 2024, Daily Graphic.”
When asked whether the EC had breached any laws while disposing of the machines, he replied, “Not at all, State valuer assessed it, we wrote to the finance ministry, approval was given, and the items were valued. They did interviews and the auctioneers auctioned the items. All the money generated was paid into the Consolidated Fund. We went through the legal means.”
He added that the commission is not worried about the brouhaha surrounding the auctioneering because they have not committed any offence. “We’re not worried because we have not committed any offence. The documents are there,” he noted.
