Policy think tank IMANI Africa has officially petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to launch a thorough investigation into the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana for alleged breaches of constitutional, statutory, and administrative duties relating to the disposal of sensitive electoral equipment.
According to the petition, IMANI accuses the EC of “misappropriation, wastage, and misuse” of public resources through the premature retirement and sale of tens of thousands of Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS) components, including laptops, digital cameras, fingerprint scanners, and verification devices.
The organization argues that many of these devices, some of which cost over $3,000 each, were not obsolete and should have either been donated to other public institutions or sold transparently through public tender.
In the petition signed by IMANI’s President, Franklin Cudjoe, the group claims that the EC’s disposal of the equipment was carried out in secrecy and without adherence to proper public procurement guidelines, potentially violating the Public Procurement Act and raising concerns of corruption and conflict of interest.
IMANI further noted that some of the items were traced to a recycling facility in Accra operated by Electro Recycling Ghana, raising red flags about the end-use and security of sensitive voter data stored on the devices.
“The equipment contains biometric data and polling records that could be reassembled by malicious actors to undermine electoral integrity or compromise citizen privacy,” the petition states. “None of the parties involved in the disposal had the requisite certifications for data handling or destruction.”
IMANI has also directed its legal team to explore referring the matter to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for a corruption risk assessment.
This development follows years of criticism by IMANI over the EC’s decision to procure new BVMS infrastructure in 2020. IMANI maintains that contrary to the EC’s claims, the equipment was not entirely procured in 2011 and had undergone incremental upgrades as recently as 2018 and 2019.
The group believes the EC deliberately sought to suppress records and mislead the public about the true condition of the BVMS assets.
The think tank warns that unless CHRAJ and other accountability institutions act swiftly, this episode could signal a broader trend of institutional impunity and mismanagement in Ghana’s democratic processes.
“We hope that the institutions we are investing our hopes in shall not fail Ghanaians,” Franklin Cudjoe said in a public statement.
Below is the petition
