EC destroys Ahafo and Volta defective ballot papers with serial number issues

The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday afternoon (Nov 21, 2024) destroyed defective ballot papers printed for the Ahafo and Volta regions for the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections. There were serial number issues with the ballot papers at the press house and so the EC took a decision to destroy all ballot papers meant for the Ahafo and Brong Ahafo regions and print new ones.

The ballot papers were burnt at the Adipa Waste Management Centre, near Nsawam in the Eastern Region.

It was due to serialisation errors encountered during the printing process.

The affected ballots were burnt in the presence of representatives from political parties, the National Intelligence Bureau, Ghana Police Service, the media, and officials from the EC.

The destroyed materials included 184 presidential ballot paper bags and 66 parliamentary ballot paper bags for the Volta Region, as well as 67 presidential and 21 parliamentary bags for the Ahafo Region.

Briefing  journalists after the exercise, the Deputy Director of Electoral Services at the EC, Asante Kissi said the destruction of the defective materials, was in line with the commission's commitment to protect the integrity of the electoral process.

"We want to assure the public that we have destroyed all the defective ballot papers to prevent any potential issues during the elections," Mr Kissi stated.

"The commission has been transparent throughout this process, and we invite the public to witness the destruction of these materials," he added.

Mr Kissi stressed that the exercise was not intended to give advantage or disadvantage to any political party. 

"We have ensured transparency throughout this process, and all stakeholders, including political party agents, have endorsed the disposal certificates," he said.

Mr Kissi added that the exercise was part of the commission's efforts to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.

"By destroying the defective ballot papers, the commission demonstrates its commitment to transparency and fairness," he said.

The Deputy Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the EC, Fred Tetteh provided the detailed statistics on the destroyed materials which include presidential ballot papers of 9,536 booklets of 100, 1,119 booklets of 50, 1,082 booklets of 25, and 8,970 booklets of 10.

The parliamentary  ballot papers were of the same figures as presidential.

The EC has since announced plans to reprint the ballot papers for the Ahafo and Volta regions, which would be handled by Bucks Press and Acts Commercials.

At an emergency Inter Party Advisory Committee meeting last week, the Deputy  Chairperson of the EC in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey announced that the commission has recalled both ballot papers for Ahafo and Volta regions due to serialisation errors during the printing of the materials.