Not only is it “prudent” for the Electoral Commission to compile a new register of voters for the December 2020 elections but also the money being sunk into that exercise is “worth it”, the Acting Public Affairs Director of the EC, Mrs Sylvia Annoh, has told Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show host Benjamin Akakpo.

According to the EC’s 31 December 2019 press statement, the compilation of a new register is estimated to cost GHS 390,265,186.44.

In that statement read to journalists at a press conference by the EC’s Deputy Chairman in-charge of Operations, Mr Samuel Tettey, the election management body said: “In 2012, the new voter register cost the Commission GHS 169,730,146.00. The 2014/2015 Limited Registration Exercise cost GHS 287,559.379. In 2016, the Limited Registration Exercise cost GHS 487,998,714.00; it is important to note that the compilation of a new voter register in 2020 is estimated to cost GHS 390,265,186.44. Note that we are referring to a new register here”.

“The expenses stated above relate to the cost of hiring registration officials and procurement of consumable registration materials. It’s worth mentioning that the current administration of the Commission is committed to judicious use of state resources for electoral activities”, Mr Tettey noted.

Asked by Benjamin Akakpo if the funds estimated for the new voter registration exercise is worth it, Mrs Annoh said: “It is worth it because if we stick to the kind of system we have now, it means we are going to spend a lot of money and we cannot vouch for the machines that they would be safe”.

“And then”, she continued: “Let me also tell you that we spent about two million Ghana cedis for the exercise that we recently had, the DLE [District-Level Elections] to refurbish the machines. Now if you have to go in for the 2020 elections with the same machines, can you imagine the amount of money, the human resource, the time that we are going to spend on refurbishing the machines apart from the fact that it may crash and then there’s a need to go in for more apart from what we have that are not in good order?

“The vendor itself said that we have to go in for more machines, costing us $917 per machine. I’m talking about the BVD and the BVR. So, if you make the comparative analysis, it is prudent for the Electoral Commission to go in for a new Voter Management System and a new voter register and that’s exactly what the Electoral Commission will do”, she said.