All voters were verified to vote – Afari-Gyan

...On the face of the pink sheet

Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has denied allegations that a number of persons were allowed to vote in the December 2012 elections without going through biometric verification.

He said voters were verified biometrically and in instances where the biometric verification devices broke down on the first day of voting, polling was suspended until functional machines were brought in.

Those who could not be verified were turned away, he said.

Dr. Afari-Gyan was continuing his evidence at the Supreme Court where parties from the New Patriotic Party have challenged the outcome of the elections and want the court to overturn the results.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey allege that based on the face of the pink sheets, a number of malpractices and anomalies occasioned the polls whose results, as announced by the Electoral Commission that saw President John Mahama win, should be reversed in Nana Addo’s favour.

But Dr. Afari-Gyan told the court that the pink sheets should not be read selectively but as a whole document.

He submitted that transposition errors on the face of the pink sheets could be corrected when the document is analysed in whole, and also when the voters’ register was referenced.

Led in evidence by his counsel, Mr James Quashie-Idun, Dr. Afari-Gyan took the court through some explanations of how the pink sheets should be interpreted.

(His counsel hands him a document and he reads through.)

Quashie-Idun: Now Dr Afari-Gyan before we come to the lower part of the form you recall that you said the last time you were here that the form had to be taken and read as a whole?
 
Afari-Gyan: Yes My Lord.

Quashie-Idun: Can you look at the entry in the slot for question A-1 and tell the court what is there?

Afari-Gyan: Section A-1 is ‘what is the number of ballots issued to this polling station?’ And the Presiding officer put there 4.

Quashie-Idun: Now at the bottom of the page, the number of votes in the ballot box, if you could tell the court what is entered.

Afari-Gyan: Yes, in spite of saying that the four ballots were given to him or her, the total votes in the ballot box come to 198. (He laughs) The question is if the person was given four ballots, … how was he able to conduct an election covering a hundred and ninety-eight people and if you look at A-2, which is intended  as a check on…(His counsel buts in).

Quashie-Idun: If you could give us the question in A-2.

Afari-Gyan: Yea, after asking what is the number of ballots given where he had put four, A-2 says what is the range of serial numbers of the ballot papers issued to this polling station and this time the presiding officer has indicated the range, serial range which I believe, if I may read…is 0045001 – 0045100. That indicates that it is a booklet of 100 ballots. The next is 0045110 to ... You can always take the last two; it’s 101 – 200 that will be another booklet of hundred, then we have 201 to 300 which is the third book of hundred and then we have 751 – 775 which I believe is a book of 25. So even though the person has put in that column that they were given 4 ballots, what he really meant was that he was given four booklets, and those four booklets totalled about 325 ballots.

Quashie-Idun: So what is your comment on the statement by Dr. Bawumia that if it is on the face of the pink sheet...?

Afari-Gyan: Well the evidence that he was not given 4 ballots is also on the face of the pink sheet and that is why we say that the pink sheet must be seen as a document and read in whole.

Dr. Afari-Gyan maintained that voters were verified before being allowed to vote and that the verification machines would indicate that.

Story: Isaac Yeboah/Graphic.com.gh