Dr Bossman Asare, Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission

The Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Dr Bossman Asare, has dismissed allegations that the Commission violated procurement regulations in the reprinting of ballot papers for the 2024 general elections, following a reported leakage.

Addressing Parliament on Thursday, June 19, 2025, he stated that the Commission followed due process and secured the necessary approval from the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) before engaging the selected printing houses.

“There was no breach of the procurement law. The Commission wrote to the CTRC on December 2, 2024, and the elections were supposed to take place on December 7,” he explained.

Dr Asare further clarified that the CTRC had already approved the printing houses and the regions they were responsible for, hence the Commission did not need to go through the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) again.

“It was only appropriate that when we had to withdraw ballots for the Eastern and Central Regions, we had to go back to the same organization that permitted us to engage these printing houses,” he noted.

According to him, the time constraints following the leakage required swift action.

He recounted that the issue emerged on Friday, November 29, 2024, and by Sunday, December 1, 2024, a meeting was held with political parties to address the matter.

“In that meeting, the EC, together with the parties, identified three printers who would be able to do the work within the time available. We had to reschedule the special voting for these two regions. So, while all the other 14 regions were having a special voting, we had to reschedule for these particular two regions,” he stated.

The Deputy Chairperson maintained that the Commission acted transparently and within the limits of the law in response to the emergency.

JKB/KA

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