By Bill W. Cooper
The chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Davidetta Browne Lansanah has been accused of devious disbursement of some US$160,000 at the Commission just ahead of the conduct of the country’s two by-elections.
Documents in the possession of the Inquirer Newspaper showed that the NEC made available an over US$160,000 in payment to a local vendor for services relating to the by-elections but that seems not to be the reality.
Information also gathered that this scheme to dupe the government through a ‘fraudulent transaction’ was initially resisted by one of the commissioners at NEC but was later succumbed to the boss’ demand.
According to the documents, the NEC boss allegedly connived with a local vendor to embezzle the government’s funds on account that the vendor delivered election material to NEC even though there was no importation of electoral materials.
Also, those election materials being used are cover-ups because they are materials that were left over from the past election and were repacked; so accordingly, Madam Lansanah in collaboration with the vendor prepared a payment voucher and delivery note to facilitate their operation.
It is alleged that there is no shipment records of vendor delivering to the Commission any recent election materials and every document to facilitate the payment was cooked allegedly by the chairperson and the vendor.
It can be recalled that this is not the first time Madam Lansanah has been accused of such manipulative corruption, as it followed after she awarded a dubious contract to her brother to provide election equipment in 2017.
However, the NEC has since vehemently denied the accusations, stating that she or her deputies have always acted with integrity and transparency in their roles, describing the allegations as ‘fake news and disinformation.”
In a release issued over the weekend by NEC, the Commission assured Liberians that all budgeted procurable goods for the Nimba County Senatorial and Grand Gedeh County District 1 Representative by-elections were procured and delivered at the NEC warehouse.
The Commission narrated that that was done in line with all the procurement rules and with all the documentary trails that are required by cheques and balances contrary to the allegations being spread on social media.
The Commission noted that the procurement for the by-elections was done in line with the Public Procurement and Concession Act and that there is no record to prove detractors’ ‘dangerous and baseless’ claim.
“On the contrary, all materials that were already available in the NEC central warehouse to be used for the by-elections were never budgeted for procurement, and we call on all journalists to follow the ABC of journalism at all times to ensure a safe and credible society,” the release added.
