The National Elections Commission (NEC) says its attention has been drawn to a malicious report circulating in the media alleging “financial malpractices” at the NEC. “This baseless report, which has gone viral on social media with varying interpretations on different news platforms, alleges that the commission paid over US$160,000 to a local vendor “for services that were never rendered,” a NEC press release observed.
The NEC, in no uncertain terms, categorically denied the allegation and described it as fake news and disinformation, which is a continuation of attempts by mischievous individuals to impugn the hard-earned characters of the NEC Chairperson and others in the commission for selfish reasons.
“The NEC assures the Liberian people and the public that all budgeted procurable goods for the Nimba County Senatorial and Grand Gedeh district #1 Representative by-elections were procured and delivered to the NEC central warehouse, following all the procurement rules and with all the documentary trails that are required for checks and balances,” the NEC release stated.
According to the release, “The NEC says that the commission’s procurement process for the by-elections was done in line with the Public Procurement and Concession Act and that there is no record to prove such dangerous and baseless claim. On the contrary, all materials that were already available in the NEC central warehouse to be used for the by-election.
“Finally, the NEC calls on all journalists and stakeholders to always contract the commission, with whatever evidence they may have, before publishing these kinds of misinformation that have the propensity to undermine the hard-earned credibility of other Liberians, especially when there may be unscrupulous people sitting in privileged positions bent on using disinformation to undermine the credibility of others.”