Electoral Commission disputes $150m spending claim on BVDs

The Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted claims suggesting that it spent $150 million on acquiring Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) and Biometric Voter Registration Kits (BVRs) in 2020.

The EC's response follows allegations made by Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, regarding the purported expenditure on BVDs.

In a statement released on April 26, 2024, the EC clarified that

Read full articlethe actual cost for procuring 74,500 BVDs, 8,500 BVRs, a new data centre, and a data recovery centre amounted to $68,661,912.67.

The Commission explained that the previous administration had budgeted $56 million for the refurbishment of BVDs and BVRs, along with other enhancements, for the 2018 referendum and District Level Elections (DLE). However, the current administration opted for minimal maintenance instead of total refurbishment and new procurement.

The EC further indicated that based on the experience with the equipment during the 2019 DLE, it applied and received approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) in 2020 to acquire new BVDs, BVRs, a Data Centre, and a Data Recovery Centre.

See the statement from the Electoral Commission below: