We didn’t spend $150m to acquire BVDs, BVRs in 2020 – EC

The Electoral Commission (EC) has urged the public to disregard any publication claiming that it spent $150 million to acquire Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) and Biometric Voter Registration Kits (BVRs) in 2020.

EC’s response comes after Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, published some articles alleging that the election management body spent $150 million on BVDs.

The EC in a statement issued on Friday, April 26, said it was instructive to note that before the peddling of the $150 million figure, $300 million had been quoted as the cost of the BVDs and BVRs procured by the commission in 2020.

“In fact, the total cost for 74,500 BVDs, 8,500 BVRs, a new data Centre and a data recovery Centre amounted to $68, 661,912.67.”

The EC further clarified that in June 2018, the previous administration of the commission had budgeted and received approval, to invest $56 million for the refurbishment of BVDs and BVRs a Data Centre and Security enhancements under the voter registration and voter verification projects.

“The contract was specifically geared towards the conduct of the 2018 referendum and District Level Elections (DLE). The Voter Registration project included the refurbishment of 1,670 BVR kits and the procurement of 1,000 new BVDs while the Voter Verification Project included the refurbishment of 46,200 BVDs as well as the acquisition of 10,000 new BVDs.”

“However, the current administration of the Commission made a strategic decision to cancel the contract for the total refurbishment and the procurement of new BVDs, opting for a minimal maintenance arrangement,” it further stated.

The EC also stated that in 2020, based on the experience with the equipment in the 2019 DLE, the current Commission applied and received approval from the PPA to acquire new BVDs, BVRs, a Data Centre and a Data Recovery Centre.