Apparently, thousands of data of voters in the just-concluded voter registration exercise were burnt in the fire incident that consumed the offices of the Electoral Commission (EC) in Sapeiman-Accra on Friday dawn.
The EC had immediately released a statement after the fire incident, claiming the data centre at its Accra Regional office was ‘safe and secure’.
“The Commission entreats the General Public to ignore the falsehood being peddled on social media to the effect that its Data Centre was destroyed by the fire. The Electoral Commission assures the General Public that its Data Centre is safe and secure”, the statement noted.
However, when the media visited the site, tens of thousands of voter data stored in duffel bags were charred by the fire and were scattered all over the affected building.
An expose by Accra-based Citi TV cornered the George Kwame Amoah, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the Electoral Commission who had earlier deceptively stated that the documents consumed in the fire were 2012 election data. Citi TV cameras however clearly covered 2020 election material charred beyond salvage in the carnage left by the fire.
Mr. Amoah was left no choice but to concede, saying “I won’t say anything about the forms anymore.” Eventually, the TV crew of Citi TV were thrown out of the scene by a group of heavily armed police officers in what essentially, halted the exposure of the EC’s cover-up.
There has been widespread suspicion that EC newly compiled voters’ register has been compromised deliberately in a grand agenda to help certain political parties win the December 2020 elections.
For instance, the reason for the EC pushing for the compilation of a new register has been totally defeated, after the EC Chairperson, Jean Adukwe Mensah admitted a few days ago that the register contained minors and foreigners.
This is after Ghana had spent over GHC 400 million to compile a new register that the EC promised will be devoid of minors and foreigners as it said were replete in the old register.
The cause of the is still shrouded in mystery as the Ghana Fire Service and the Ghana Police Service reportedly launch into an investigation to probe the cause of the fire.
The fire has happened immediately after the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had issued an official statement asking for a probe into all the electoral commission’s actions after suspicions that some underhand dealings may have transpired in the compilation of the new register.