Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday June 30, 2011.
Although the Electoral Commission (EC) has promised a biometric voters register for the 2012 general election, it is still silent on the date for the commencement of the registration exercise.
The commission short-listed seven companies that expressed interests in the provision of technology for the biometric registration of voters but not too much has been heard from them ever since.
When Daily Guide contacted Christian Owusu-Parry, Communications Director of the EC on Tuesday, to know about progress of work on the biometric registration he said the process of procuring materials for biometric registration was on course but would not reveal the exact date for the commencement of the registration exercise.
“We have a date for the start of the registration exercise but I will not disclose it now. We have to start public education on the biometric registration before it can be carried out.”
“There isn’t much I can tell you. We are in the process of procurement. We have plans for voter education and the modalities are being worked out.”
Mr. Owusu-Parry said the commission has not submitted budget for the 2012 general elections adding “this is not the time for submission of budget.
According to the commission, the process would involve the electronic installation of names, pictures and thumb prints of prospective voters. It is estimated to cost GH¢ 80m.
The EC says the replacement of the manual voters register with a biometric register would help to address critical issues including double and multiple registrations that impede transparency, free and fair elections in the country.
Since Ghana’s return to constitutional rule in 1993, the country has faced challenges such as bloated electoral register, impersonation of voters, stuffing and stealing of ballot boxes, dub ballot papers, among others.
In some cases, these problems have resulted in violence and intimidation of voters, while prospective voters have been disenfranchised because they are not able to move to regions at the specific times that the EC undertakes its registration exercise.
Since the EC announced its decision to use biometric technology in January 2011, many Ghanaians, especially politicians, have hailed the initiative, stating that the introduction of electronic voting in Ghana was both feasible and desirable.
Others have noted that though a biometric voters’ register could resolve the illegal practice of multiple registrations, it would not solve entirely the problems regarding multiple voting and the anticipated absence of an electronic biometric data identification and verification system for individual voters at the polling stations on voting day.
With the biometric voters’ register, it is also expected that Ghana’s electoral system will be less costly, free from errors, delays and fraud that frequently undermine the credibility of results.
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