Samuel Tettey - Deputy EC Chair

The Deputy Chairman of Operations at the Electoral Commission (EC), Samuel Tettey, has announced the suspension of the Pusiga District Director due to recent illegal voter transfers.

According to him, the EC considers the district director a prime suspect, as such transfers cannot occur without the involvement of the senior district official.

Mr. Tettey revealed that a committee has been established by the EC to investigate how voters were transferred without their consent.

If you want to transfer your vote from one place to the other, you have to go to the district office and have your biometrics taken and a new voter ID card given to you reflecting your new polling station. In the case of Pusiga, the voters were claiming that they did not get there, meanwhile, their names were in Pusiga,” he stated

EC’s investigations into the case

He further noted that a preliminary investigation revealed that photographs on the Voter’s ID cards of the affected voters were used to effect the transfer without their knowledge. He assured that the EC would dismiss any officials found to be involved in the illegal transfers.

“What the commission realised was that, instead of they going to the center, they didn’t, rather, the photographs were captured and that was what they used to effect the transfer. Someone collected those cards under the pretext of giving them loans. They managed to get the transfers done without going to the district office and they used the photographs. So we have suspended the officer and we are investigating [and] those who are involved will be sacked,” he said.

The EC conducted a recent voter exhibition and transfer exercise, originally scheduled to begin on August 1, 2024, was rescheduled to start on August 20 and ended on August 27, 2024. This exercise was to ensure that voters’ details were accurately recorded and that they were eligible to vote in the upcoming 2024 December elections.

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