Kufuor supports E-voting

Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor is a former President of Ghana

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday February 10, 2010
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has added his voice to the call on the Electoral Commission (EC) to explore the possibility of the introduction of an electronic (e-voting) concept in the country.

Frank Agyekum, his spokesperson said yesterday that “the former President fully supports the e-voting concept and urges the EC to consider it as a way forward towards the enhancement of the country’s democratic dispensation.”

Speaking at the end of a two-day conference on biometric voter registration and e-voting in Accra yesterday organized by the Danquah Institute (DI), a policy think thak and research and analysis centre, Mr. Agyekum quoted the former President as saying “the e-voting concept is easier, more foolproof and cost effective in the long run.”

“Many countries are going e-voting. It has been tested to be more reliable. What prevents Ghana which is seen as a pacesetter in democratic development from incorporating the concept into our system”, Mr. Agyekum quoted the former President further.

Mr. Agyekum said the former President believes that all the political parties and other stakeholders could commit themselves to the concept, discuss the challenges surrounding its implementation and ensure the best way forward for a smooth take-off.

“We have fought to be where we are in our political process and I believe we can go further to sanitise our electoral system to make our elections more credible and more trusted”, he quoted the former President.

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Executive Director of DI who spoke on the e-voting concept introduced in India said the convenience with which the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is used in that country should motivate all political parties and Ghanaians to agitate for e-voting.

“We have studied and looked at all the various models and the Indian model appears to suit our system”.

He said the concept when introduced would cut out huge cost associated with organizing elections and make the electoral process credible.

Mr. Otchere-Darko further said that although the biometric voter registration to be introduced soon would prevent under-aged voting, it might not necessarily prevent multiple voting once there is no e-voting system to it.

Also see: www.dailyguideghana.com