EC ordered two sets of pink sheets – Afari-Gyan

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, witness for the second respondent, on Monday, confirmed that the Electoral Commission (EC) ordered the printing of two sets of pink sheets in anticipation of more presidential candidates registering.

He said at the time the order was made for the printing, balloting by candidates for placement on the pink sheets had already been done.

Dr Afari-Gyan made the revelation when Mr Philip Addison, Counsel for the petitioners continued his cross-examination of the witness at the on-going election case.

Dr Afari-Gyan further explained that the printing of the pink sheets could not have started before the balloting had taken place.

He said the EC ordered 27,000 booklets of pink sheets with each containing 18 individual sheets.

He, however, denied claims by Mr Addison that the EC was expecting more candidates that was why it provided 18 spaces instead of the eight spaces they indicated on the pink sheets.

Dr Afari-Gyan said the numbers on the ballot papers were sensitive identities and that the ballot papers and pink sheets were not in the same category of sensitivity.

He said there were different degrees of sensitivity, adding that a pink sheet with nothing written on it was not as sensitive as that of the ballot paper.

Dr Afari-Gyan said even though the pink sheets for the 2012 elections were printed abroad, he did not know exactly where they were printed.

When asked by Mr Addison whether he bothered to find out where they were printed, Dr Afari-Gyan said though he did bother to find where, no printing house in Ghana had the capacity to print the pink sheets, so the EC contracted Buck Press to get them printed abroad.

He said the parties were not told the pink sheets were going to be printed abroad because it was not everything the EC had to tell the political parties.

When asked by Mr Addison if all the special voting took place at polling stations, Dr Afari-Gyan answered and said not all took place at a polling station. He added that some of the voting centres had code numbers whilst others did not.

He explained that the category of people classified under special voting were people, who due to their work, might not be able to vote on voting day and were made to vote early including political parties’ polling agents.

He said the average number of special voting centres in a constituency might be at least one, and these were manned by the temporary officers of the EC. Dr Afari-Gyan said since special voting occurred at polling stations, the EC used the same regulations of a polling station.

He denied claims by Mr Addison that the results of special voting were recorded directly on the collation form, saying that they were first recorded on the pink sheet before they were transferred onto the collation sheet.