Laborer, Watchman and others Refuse To Be Scapegoats In EC’s Missing BVR Kits Scandal

Four suspects who have been arraigned before court over the strange loss of Biometric Verification Registration kit in the custody of the Electoral Commission (EC) have demonstrated determination not to be scapegoats.

Philip Tetteh, laborer, Benjamin Fienyi, a watchman and Joseph Blanskoson Adamadze, described as a database administrator pled not guilty after they were arraigned before the Dansoman Circuit Court under charges of conspiracy to steal and stealing.

A fourth person, 23 year old Clifford Yeboah, said to be a student also pled his innocence in respect of the charge that he dishonestly received the kits, telling the court of Madam Justice Halima Abdul El Lawal Basit that he is not guilty of the charges brought against him.

The four have since been remanded in custody.

The humble status of the three supposed suspects that have been arrested has dangled question marks over the EC’s position that they stole the BVR kits. What would a laborer, a student and a watchman want a BVR kit for?

The allegation that a database administrator was involved in the supposed theft, has on the other hand, volleyed many concerned Ghanaians to a throwback to 2016, when some South African former police officers, smuggled into the country by the ruling NPP, had been arrested by national security with copies of the EC’s biometric vote transfer manuals in their possession. Even so, this database administrator has refused to be the EC’s fall guy,  pleading not guilty in court.

With the state set to have a tough time proving that a laborer, a watchman, and a student connived with a database administrator to steal BVR kits in the EC’s custody, it bears reminding that the office of the EC, which is accusing these suspects, is a security zone.

In court on Thursday, April 18, Chief Inspector Christopher Wonder, the prosecutor, told the court that the matter was still under investigations and that accused persons would interfere if admitted to bail. The accused persons swear they don’t jack squat about what the prosecutor is talking about.

Until the prosecution is able to prove otherwise, the Electoral Commission continues to stand smelly with suspicion in the strange matter of BVR kits being spirited from under its nose even though its office is a security zone.

According to the prosecutor, the Police were yet to retrieve the laptops which contained crucial information.

The court therefore remanded the accused persons until April 29, 2024.

Case facts

As reported by Adomonline, earlier, the prosecution had narrated to the court that the complainant’s was the EC officials.

Prosecution said on March 9, this year, officials from the Commission (Information Technology Department) commenced with regular maintenance of its BVR kits.

According to prosecution, each BVR kit had a laptop computer, scanner, printer, biometric device, and a battery.

The court heard that during the exercise, it was detected that those five dell laptops belonging to the EC had been stolen among the set of kits.

Prosecution said a report was made to the National Security and intelligence led to the arrest of the accused persons.

The prosecutor told the court that three HP laptops of the EC were retrieved from Yeboah and a HP printer and three Biometric Verification Device (BVD) on Fienyi,

Prosecution told the court that Fienyi and Adamadze planned to steal some of the printers when the commission in March 2023 engaged its casual workers and security men to remove some materials from the commission’s warehouse at Ridge (EC old Head office) to one of its warehouses in Accra.

Investigations revealed that Philip Tetteh stole three HP laptops from the kit boxes and gave same to Yeboah to keep and repair them.

In the case of Blankson, he stole the HP Printer from the kits and gave it Fienyi. Fienyi also took three BVD printer chargers and sent them home.