Ghana’s international donor partners have expressed concerns with the GHc1.2 billion approved by Parliament to conduct the 2016 general elections.
This was revealed by the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO).
[contextly_sidebar id=”b7rYbBtq66VXcIrB51vpJ3zTC2nUgeaX”]The Electoral Commission presented a budget of GHc1.7 billion for next year’s general election but GHc1.2 billion was approved by Parliament.
The Finance Ministry has agreed to provide Ghc800 million.
Speaking in an interview with Citi News, the National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Arhin said, if the international donor community had their way, they would ask for further review.
According to Mr Arhin, “the donor community is not too happy with the funding, the way our elections cost.”
“If they had their way, they would have appealed to people to look at it seriously so that we could have cut down on this kind of thing,” he stated.
Mr. Arhin further compared Ghana’s expenditure per person during elections to Nigeria which spent less per individual during their general elections.
He believes Ghana is spending too much and urged the EC to emulate other African countries.
“An election in Nigeria is costing maybe $32 person and then Ghana is doing it’s own at $40 or $50… People are complaining that our elections cost too much so we need to sit up and align it with what is operating in other countries.”
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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana