The government’s spokesperson on governance and security, Dr Palgrove Boakye-Danquah, has called for an investigation into the serialisation error on the ballot papers for the Volta and Ahafo regions.

According to him, the printing of ballot papers is similar to the printing of examination papers, which is why printing firms must prioritise security to avoid such errors.

“My view is that this shouldn’t have happened. The printing houses shouldn’t have made a mistake with this serialisation. The fact that they made an error with the serialisation and then proceeded to submit the ballot papers to the Electoral Commission for deployment is unacceptable. I am glad the EC has destroyed those papers, but we should conduct a more thorough investigation into these issues,” he said.

Dr Boakye-Danquah said this during the Joy News AM Show on Monday, November 25 hosted by Benjamin Akakpo and Sweety Aborchie.

“I am aware that our ballot papers are printed by printing houses with high-security measures, much like the printing of examination papers,” he added.

He further criticized the printing firm for not being diligent in its work, saying, “If there is a serialisation issue, it should have been rectified before the papers were submitted to the Electoral Commission.”

Last week, the EC burned the erroneous ballot papers in the presence of representatives from all parties contesting the 2024 election and other stakeholders.

Read also: Election 2024: EC destroys defective ballot papers for Ahafo and Volta regions

The error in the serialisation of the ballot papers for the Volta and Ahafo regions was identified by the EC, although the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) claimed that it discovered the mistake, and not the EC.

The NDC also accused the EC and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) of attempting to rig the December elections in favour of the NPP.

“It shouldn’t have happened, but I am glad it has been addressed. However, an investigation is needed to prevent such mistakes in the future" Dr Boakye-Danquah insisted.

He then called for a peaceful election ahead of the December 7 exercise, “We want a peaceful election, and we want the Ghanaian people to make a good decision in electing an ethical and innovative leader" and thus called for support for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.