A deputy minority whip Ibrahim Ahmed said the Electoral Commission’s meeting with Parliament’s Special Budget Committee was to seek help to retrieve money from the Finance ministry.
Chairperson of the EC Jean Adukwei Mensah and her deputies yesterday appeared before the committee in the wake of an official request from the minority whip Muntaka Mohammed for the EC to appear before the plenary to answer questions on the planned voter registration exercise.
The deputy Minority whip however says the meeting was at the request of the EC which was channeled through the Majority leader who is Chairman of the Special Budget’s Committee.
According to the Banda MP the EC was there to request the intervention of Parliament to retrieve some GHc271million from the Finance ministry.
Ibrahim Ahmed told Sena Nombo on the Gold Power Drive, the money was approved by the Parliament for the EC in 2018 to be used to upgrade the EC’s data center.
The EC however decided against the upgrade and asked the Finance ministry to ring-fence it for future use by the EC.
The EC Chairperson told Parliament the Finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta is refusing to release the GHc271million for the use of the commission.
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The EC Chairperson said she needed the money for the elections because the budgeted GHc1.050billion was not enough to cater for the 2020 election expenses.
If she gets the GHc271million, Jean Mensah’s budget for the elections would increase to 1.334billion.
The Banda MP who is a member of the Special Budget Committee told Sena Nombo the committee’s hands are tied because they can only act on referrals from the house.
Source: Gold Power Drive/Radiogoldlive.com