Franklin Cudjoe, IMANI Boss
A Civil Society activist and social commentator, Franklin Cudjoe, has taken the Editor of Daily Newspaper, Fortune Alimi and the paper he edits to the cleaners for incessantly writing about his person in their editorial.
Franklin, who is also the President for IMANI Ghana said he has been reading all the editorials the Daily Guide has been writing about him for the past two years, which shows how democratically accommodating he is of alternate narratives, even if cladded in periodicals called Daily Rubbish.
Responding to the claims by the newspaper, Franklin urged the Daily Guide Enterprise to put their heads together and counter IMANI’s arguments with superior ones.
‘Can I please beg of you to allow the superior cognitive aspects of your enterprise to counter arguments made such as the one IMANI made against the EC? If in doubt again, I will reproduce them here. And oh, as for your other request, until you start making financial contributions to IMANI, we owe you nothing. We are not a Ghana Government funded entity!’ he wrote.
According to him, the Daily Guide and its Editor can set the sea ablaze if they think they know mathematics.
‘The EC insists that you, Daily Guide, must accept that 85 + 13 = 104. Yes, because IT CAN. If you think you know mathematics and so don’t agree, go and burn the sea’. He said.
In his parting comment, he cautioned the newspaper to be mindful of slaughtering the queen’s language in its attempt to react to him.
‘IMANI is waiting for an educated response, and please do not write a headline for your reply. Tired of reading murderous grammar’. He teased.
Read the full article by Franklin Cudjoe
Franklin Cudjoe to Fortune Alimi/Daily Guide…
Fortune Alimi, I have been reading all the editorials your newspaper, the Daily Guide has been writing about me for the past two years, which shows how democratically accommodating I am of alternate narratives, even if cladded in periodicals called Daily Rubbish. Apart from the entertainment value from the never-ending dramatic tales, please be informed that I have no personal issues with any public official at all- certainly not the EC boss, who was my former boss! As your editorials about me lately are usually inspired by blind partisanship, somehow allowed for your type of newspaper, can I please beg of you to allow the superior cognitive aspects of your enterprise to counter arguments made such as the one IMANI made against the EC? If in doubt again, I will reproduce them here. And oh, as for your other request, until you start making financial contributions to IMANI, we owe you nothing. We are not a Ghana Government funded entity! We only report to our donors who, yes, swear by every dollar they give us, which means we are subjected to the strictest form of audits and where there are misunderstandings and even impropriety, we pay back through our noses! Unlike you, we do not fight with auditors to shield delinquent persons. Stop fighting Ghana’s Auditor-General on behalf of your financially wicked party folks.
Here are the main highlights of IMANI’s case against the EC!
- The EC has blatantly and consistently lied about the true facts of the current biometric system and its ongoing effort to procure a new one.
- The EC’s claims that it will cost just $56 million to procure a new system whilst the cost of refreshing and maintaining the existing one would cost $74 million are dangerous untruths.
- A sham tender recently completed by the EC has revealed that the EC plans to spend $72 million on hardware alone. IMANI believes that by the time software and services are added the total costs for technology alone will amount to $85 million.
- Compared to a limited registration to capture just those not on the voters’ register, a fresh mass registration shall cost $50 million. Refreshing the existing technology at competitive prices will cost just about $15 million.
- Hence the total loss to Ghana of the EC’s actions amount to $150 million, if one factors in contingency. If the fact that thousands of perfectly good equipment shall be thrown away is also considered, the total loss rises.
- But economic cost is not the only thing to be worried about. The EC also bungled the procurement process, leaving a trail of evidence suggesting tender-rigging. This has opened the process to litigation and delay.
- The EC used one day to disqualify well-qualified bidders, claiming that they had reputational problems, when the vendor it awarded the tender to, after the one day of evaluation, Thales (and its Gemalto unit) has even bigger scandals hanging over its head. In fact, it was once globally blacklisted by the World Bank.
- The EC’s tender processes were so bad that the Chairman of the technical evaluation panel dissociated himself from the results forcing the EC to discard a 4-month process and compress it into a one-week evaluation.
- At any rate, the timeframe for negotiating a proper contract; designing better specifications to correct the many things the EC claims are wrong with the existing system; securing procurement approvals; integrating disparate software and hardware systems from different vendors; and deploying and testing the platform cannot be fitted within the
EC’s artificial timeline of April 18th, 2020 for the commencement of registration.
- If the EC goes ahead and throws caution to the wind to maintain the shambolic April 18th timeline, the credibility of the new system shall suffer.
- The proposed mediation process by Gamey & Co Alternate Dispute Resolution Center is wise and must be considered by all parties.
- The company on whose behalf the tender was being manipulated is the only one whose score tally doesn’t add up. The EC insists that you, Daily Guide, must accept that 85 + 13 = 104. Yes, because IT CAN. If you think you know mathematics and so don’t agree, go and burn the sea.
This is what the Daily Guide, the paper you edit thinks we should spend meagre public funds on. IMANI is waiting for an educated response, and please do not write a headline for your reply. Tired of reading murderous grammar.
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