CE loose a bomb on the bometric platform

General News on Thursday, May 23, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-05-23

The details provided by the Electoral Commission (EC) indicate that the election management agency was paying $ 4 million a year to a vendor for the maintenance of biometric verification equipment.

The President of the EC, Jean Mensa, who made the revelation, stated that the annual financial obligation was respected, whether or not there was an election, a kind of mandate.

According to the Commission, this was not an achievable arrangement given the huge amount of money that literally failed without work.

Regarding the seller's anger following the termination of the contract, she said: "It is the Ghanaians who should be saddened to see how much they are losing because of the reckless decision to part with so much money without accomplished job".

The cost-benefit badysis

According to Ms. Mensa, a cost-benefit badysis of the arrangement informed the EC's decision to change the status quo and to consider an arrangement of $ 600,000 for similar services with extras for the same period.

"Why should we pay $ 4 million as if we were buying new equipment? It makes no sense, she said.

She also said that a cost-benefit badysis of the voter management biometric system had shown that setting up an entirely new system for the 2020 general election cost far less than the maintenance cost old biometric machines used for the 2016 elections.

The Canadian consultant hired by the EC since 2011 has conducted an evaluation of the equipment and its financial obligation. He felt that it was not viable and advised against its maintenance.

Aged equipment

The President of the EC explained that the biometric verification equipment at the study had been acquired in 2011.

In her opinion, the consultant believes that the biometric material is outdated, given the progress made since the acquisition period.

"The technology has evolved," she said, adding that even with the equipment in place during the last elections, a large number of manual checks had taken place in the country's polling centers. The financial implication should be considered. "

The consultant, who recommended not to keep the verification devices under review, is the head of the EC architecture for 2011, she added.

"Our decision saved the 20 million Eastern Caribbean dollars," she said.

It revealed that the possession of the essential software of the election management body is an affront to the sovereignty of the country.

"The owner of the software is not the right owner of the software," she said, explaining that "even the system pbadword is not known to the IT staff of the EC."

According to Jean Mensa, the EC wants to seize the opportunity offered by the transfer of knowledge, which was not the case with the previous supplier.

"This, among others, has informed our decision to repeal our previous agreement," she said.

Light green

The EC, contrary to what is touted in some circles, has not yet made any arrangement with any supplier. However, a request has been made.

Two sellers, Fairgreen and Beerhand, are on the table, but the first has experience and skills in this area, while the latter lacks both.

"We have written to the Public Procurement Authority (APP), as required by law. No agreement has yet been reached, "said Ms. Mensa.

Single provider

"Exclusive sourcing is the preferred option because we want to use the knowledge transfer component that accompanies this agreement and the current situation we are in would not allow us to go through competitive bidding," she declared.

"STL was supposed to have transferred knowledge, but not," she said.

"We still have no salesman. A call for tenders for the pre-qualification announcement is about to come out.

"The EC would soon start recruiting people with the right skills," she said.

No To Lock-In System

Ms. Mensa stated that the new EC opposed the blocking system in the previous order and would contact stakeholders to improve and improve the management of elections.

Security at the EC

"Following the threats of the last fifteen weeks, something has been done to change the status quo in security management at the EC," she said about what some people see as security checks inappropriate at the headquarters of the EC.

"The new security arrangement followed the advice of a security expert and was part of the recent threats from some quarters. The security level has been increased accordingly. It's not perceptible when you're in the EC compound, "she said.

"We have been in power for eight months, and we have strengthened our security a fortnight ago. As we speak, when you come to our headquarters, you will not find a heavily armed security officer strolling there, "she added.