Ghana’s main opposition party The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has revealed intentions to kick against the proposed new Ghanian voters’ register that the electoral commission sought to make ahead of the upcoming general elections in December.
Speaking in an interview, the deputy general secretary of the party, Peter Boamah Otukonor insists that there is no need to touch the data that makes up the voters register because all the changes the EC wants to make has nothing to do with them.
According to him, the NDC supported moves by the the electoral commission for the current biometric register in 2012 because the system was going to save the country a lot. “…The reason why some of us supported them in making the current biometdic system then was that the new register would be there for long and also save Ghana a lot of money, such that we will not run at a loss. Since this was done, it has been used for two elections. If someone whose name is on the current register has died, there is no way someone can vote on their behalf. So it’s safe and secure… ” he said.
Mr. Otukonor went on to refute all the reasons given by the electoral commission maintaining his argument that there was no reason for the Jean Nketsiah-led commission to make a new register because the data is still intact.
Outdated system
According to him, one of the claims made by the EC for the need to change the register is that the current system is outdated. This he says has no grounds as the system only needs to be upgraded if there is any such issues. He adds that it is because of the the system’s credibility that the commission used it in the just-ended district assembly elections. He said; “We have been telling them that if the system is outdated, all they have to do is update it just like we update our WhatsApp applications when it’s outdated. In fact we spoke with their IT director who mentioned that they used a software called oracle and that they used oracle 11 version for the current system. Now there has been an upgrade of up to 5 generations so there is oracle 19 and oracle has even sent all their customers notices that these upgrades are available for purchase. The software does not cost. You just buy and upgrade; you don’t have a problem.” He concludes that the EC cannot insist on a new voters register because the software that runs the current system is outdated and must go with the data in it.
Addition of Facial Recognition Feature
The next reason he says was given by the EC was for the addition of a facial recognition feature in the system that will addition to the fingerprint, check the faces of voters for validation before voting. To this, the deputy general secretary of the NDC said that again there is no need for verification. ” …it’s a a good thing, we support it but there’s still no need to discard the data because both biometric and facial verification they are going to buy will need the data for every constituency added to it for verification…the current register already has photos; the same photos Bawumia compared with Togo’s voters’ register and said about 70,000 voters there were found in Ghana’s register…all they have to do is load the current register unto the facial system”. He also makes mention of this systems precision rate saying that of the facial system is about 80% compared to the fingerprint system currently in use which has a pretty precision rate of over 90% saying that the fingerprint system is the best to use.
Satellite Issues
According to Mr. Otukonor,another reason the electoral commission gave was that they wanted to use telecommunications platforms instead of the current satellite transmission. “This system they are talking about is the VMS system, what we popularly refer to as online. They are only 250. These were made for continuous registration to help people who have reached age 18 register as soon as they reach that age. The system right away captures the details of the person who registers.” Reasons given by the EC for this according to him was that, changes in weather affects the satellite in transmitting information thus the change to platforms provided by telcos. He quizzes how this is related to the register?
Budget For The New Register
Speaking on the budget approved for the new register, he said “If you look at the budget that has been approved by the majority in parliament for this exercise, it amounts a total of 833 million. 390 million out of this will be used to travel the length and breadth of the country to make the registrations for the new register. The machine itself according to them costs 443 million. So let’s take it as they will buy all the machines but we still need to protect that 390 million allocated for carrying out the registration process through out the country.” He insists that the data in the current system is intact.
He further stated that his outfit has deliberated on this issue with the electoral commission on a number of occasions adding that so far the commission has only held one 3 hours meeting on the register. In that meeting, he says they went into details with the EC and raised all the issues he has touched on; something Mr.Otukonor says was conceited by the electoral commissioner herself . “The only problem Jean Mensah has is that the upgrade costs more than going to buy new machines to undertake the whole process again” he said. Responding to whether the case was indeed that the upgrade costs as said, Mr.Otukonor said that demands for the valuation report that will confirm this has not been fulfilled up to date. “We have written countless letters on that. The next meeting we were called to thinking was about further discussions on this rather had some selected companies…who have designed the system asking us to come and see a demonstration. And we said no…” he added.
The deputy general secretary of the NDC indicated that as a means of getting this issue resolved, the NDC together with 6 other political parties have formed a group called the ‘Inter-Party Resistance Against The New Voters’ Register’. According to him, they will be embarking on a massive demonstration in Tamale come Saturday dubbed “Y’empenne” (Tokosae in dagomba) Demonstration. This will be the first of two other demonstrations also dubbed ‘Y’emmpene Demonstration’ in the Ashanti Region on 21st of January and the final one in the Greater Accra region.
