Details emerging from the Electoral Commission (EC) indicate that the election management body was paying a whopping $4 million annually to a vendor for the servicing of biometric verification equipment.
The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, who made the revelation, said the annual financial obligation was met irrespective of whether there was an election or not, a retainership of sort.
This, according to the commission, was not a feasible arrangement considering the quantum of money that literally went down the drain for no work done.
As to the vendor being angry by the cessation of the contract, she said “it’s Ghanaians who should be peeved about how much they were losing under the unwise decision to part with so much money for no work done.”
Cost Benefit Analysis
According to Mrs. Mensa, a cost benefit analysis of the arrangement informed the EC’s decision to change the status quo and consider an arrangement, which goes for $600,000 for similar services with extras for same period.
“Why should we pay $4 million as though we are acquiring new equipment? It just doesn’t make sense,” she said.
She also said that a cost benefit analysis of the biometric voter management system has shown that building an entirely new system for the 2020 general elections is far cheaper than the cost of servicing the old biometric machines that were used for the 2016 elections.
The Canadian consultant the EC has been engaging since 2011 made an assessment of the equipment and the financial obligation thereof and found it unsustainable and advised against its continuation.
Antiquated Equipment
The EC boss explained that the biometric verification equipment under review was acquired in 2011.
In her estimation, the consultant somewhat consider the biometric equipment to be antiquated, given the advancement made since the period of their acquisition.
“Technology has evolved,” she said, adding that even with the said equipment in place during the last elections, high incidence of manual verification took place at voting centres across the country. The financial implication should be considered.”
The consultant, who advised against maintaining the verification devices under review, is the one responsible for the 2011 architecture of the EC, she added.
“Our decision has saved the EC $20 million,” she disclosed.
She revealed that the ownership of the critical software of the election management body is an affront to the country’s sovereignty.
“The vendor proprietorship of the software is not right,” she stressed, explaining that “even the password for the system is not known to the IT staff of the EC.”
The EC, according to Jean Mensa, wants to avail itself of the opportunity of knowledge transfer, which under the previous vendor, did not take place.
“This among others informed our decision to abrogate our previous arrangement,” she said.
Fair green
The EC, contrary to what is being touted in some circles, has not entered into an arrangement with any vendor yet. A request has been put out though.
Two vendors, Fairgreen and Beerhand, are on the table but the former has experience and skills in such matters whereas the latter lacks both.
“We have written to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) as required by law. No deal has been reached yet,” Mrs Mensa said.
Sole-Sourcing
“Sole-sourcing is the preferred option because we want to avail ourselves of the knowledge transfer component which comes with this arrangement and the current situation in which we find ourselves would not permit us to go for competitive tendering,” she said.
“STL was supposed to have transferred knowledge but it did not,” she mentioned.
“We do not have any vendor yet. A pre-qualification announcement tender is about to go out.
“The EC would soon embark on recruitment of person with requisite skills,” she announced.
No To Lock-In System
Ms Mensa said the new EC is opposed to the lock-in system in the previous order and would reach out to stakeholders so the management of elections would be enhanced and transparent.
Security At EC
“Following threats of the past fortnight something was done to change the status quo of security management at the EC,” she said to a question about what some persons consider to be inappropriate security checks at the EC’s headquarters.
“The new security arrangement followed advice from a security expert and against the backdrop of recent threats from some quarters. The security level has been raised accordingly. It’s not noticeable when one is within the compound of the EC,” she said.
“We have been in office for the past eight months and it was only a fortnight ago that we stepped up our security. Even as we speak, when you come to our headquarters you would not find any heavily armed security agent loitering at the place,” she added.
Source: Daily Guide
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
She is no different....she is trying to steal big time. That is how they start the stealing process.
I'm sad she is also going for sole sourcing. The very means Mahama and his NDC used to dupe Ghana. Pls, open the door for competitive bidding. You only need to put forth your terms and conditions so those who don't qualify will automatically be removed by the process. No more sole sourcing. It's killing our nation
@What is she trying to achieve. I have been a technician for EC since 2011. from day one I never supported and agreed with the way EC was dealing with the vendor. the vendor took advantage of EC's lack of MIS knowledge and created a parallel office to run electoral issues with EC. any new administration that wants to get things done right will have so many issues raised against the way the vendor was intruding into the core duties of EC. in fact ur explanations tell me either you still don't understand what is wrong with the relationship between EC and the vendor or you are not someone who knows sth about MIS because I can limit myself to your explanation to tell you why you should agreee with anyone who raises issues with the vendor's attitude.
This author knows very little about IT and database management. It is sad to have people commenting on such issues. Having password or being trained on how to use a machine, particularly IT equipment does not mean you manage it. For example, you know how to use your mobile phone but it does not mean that you manage your conversation with other people. That is where database management comes in. Service providers such as Vodafone, MTN and manufacturers can have access to your conversations if they want to listen to your conversation. This is the reason why Australia, USA and other countries have decided not to use Chinese Huawei latest mobile technology. They don't simply trust Huawei. For important information such as Electoral database of a country to be managed by external company/foreigner is unacceptable. And people like you accept it. How do we progress?. This is a serious matter.
@What is she trying to achieve. It is unfortunate that with all your "lecture" you failed to respond to the two most important points that informed the EC chair's decision: 1. Cost-effectiveness and 2. antiquated equipment. Are these true or false?
The partisanship has started. The commentators speak depending on where they belong - NDC or NPP. Nothing like national interest. What a country!
Commenting on this as a Ghanaian citizen, I will be very charitable by saying that this woman is a bloody liar or just some skewed PR person who has decided to twist facts. 1. I know for a fact that the EC has access to its passwords and the "external vendors" as she referred to them never control anything remotely or physically unless the EC asked for its staff to be trained on certain technical components of the system. 2. The "external vendors", again in her words, have even trained from EC head office level down to the polling station levels employees of EC that the EC uses for assignments. 3. What she referred to as cleaning of the biometric devices is not wiping, dusting and boxing only as she puts it. The process involves; a. Dusting, b, Upgrading or firmware (if need be). c. Renewing licence. and d. Replacing weak and non-functional devices. All these again go through a process of quality assurance to make sure the margin of error is very much reduced. This is what made the 2016 elections a better one compared to all other elections held in terms of technical support. The EC on its own can do all these but issues about software licencing and all that is a matter of copyright and any IT expert will understand why the "external vendor" was still involved". I personally know very strong and competent IT staff of the EC that has been leaving the process all these while. Just that I will not mention names for any reason. All her arguments are dead on the journey before arriving. With this posture, is she sure all those she is going to recruit are neutral and very clear conscienced? Let us not deceive ourselves all in the name of very little political interest. Ghana is far bigger and more important than any political interest. I am no anti-feminine but I am against a woman leading the EC at this time. They talk too much and the job of the EC chair isn't a PR job. Its that of diplomacy and patriotism.
Thank you Jean, people were stealing legally form the coffers of the State yet attended women's Aglow meetings. We shall all stand before the judgement seat of God and give account of what we did with the duties entrusted in our care, beginning from the house of God. The previous EC administration was robbing the country using legal methods. It was a criminal enterprise, Shameful!
Konongo Kaya. Afari Gyan and Charlotte Osei used these guys and produced good result . Just finding faults to cover her incompetence. Fix it.
JM & NDC chop chop as usual.