The Electoral Commission (EC) says the adoption of best procurement practices and diligence led to a huge reduction of cost in the conduct of the 2020 general elections.

According to the EC’s Director of Training, Micheal Boadu, in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the cost per voter in the 2020 elections was reduced by half as compared to the expenditure for 2016 elections which he says led to a massive total savings of GH¢523,409,980 (million) or $90,243,100 (million).

“The cost per voter in the just ended 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections amounted to about GHS 40.78 translating into seven (7) US-Dollars seven (7) cents. He further added that “this is a drastic reduction from the previous cost of the exercise held in 2016, which was about GHS 70 translating into 13 dollars.”

He also disclosed that “As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, most of our offshore items which had to be transported by air had a further hike in prices from what was paid in 2012, 2016”.

He further added that “unlike 2012 and 2016 when the Commission was tax-exempted, in 2020 the Commission paid full tax for all Offshore items. This notwithstanding, we managed to reduce the cost of the election by almost half the 2016 amount,” he said.

He also revealed that “For the first time, the ballot papers, BVDs, and the voter registers were sent to the districts two weeks before the election day, as against the past where they get to their destinations a day to the election.

"Between 2016 and 2020 the Commission increased the number of polling stations by 10,000, this means that the Commission hired 146,122 more staff working on exhibition and Election Day alone and yet we managed to reduce the cost per person by almost half,” he added

Speaking at a post-election forum organized by the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), Micheal Boadu observed that 95 percent of the procurement processes for the conduct of the elections were done by open-competitive tendering processes and also through the newspapers with the exception of printing of ballot papers which was done through TV and Radio adverts due to its security implications.

He also added that the Commission procured 240,000 face masks and other PPEs for its staff as part of efforts to ensure the adherence of the safety protocols and stressed that “sanitizers, set of Veronica bucket, liquid soap, tissue paper, wipes and thermometer guns, were deployed to all the over 38,622 polling station during the entire registration period, exhibition and election day.