Current register not obsolete — IPRAN
The Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voters Register (IPRAN) is insisting that the Electoral Commission (EC) Biometric Verification Devices are not obsolete.
The position of the group, it said, was informed by its checks with the manufacturers of the devices.
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It said the group would, therefore, escalate its resistance to ensure that the Electoral Commission (EC) did not start its planned exercise of compiling a new voters' register for the 2020 general elections.
That, it said, had been informed by answers received by HSB Identification BV, the manufacturers of the current Biometric Voters Register (BVR) equipment, which indicated that the current BVRs were not obsolete.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, a member of IPRAN and General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said in a January 2, 2020, correspondence, Mr Marcel Boogaard of HSB Identification BV also indicated that although the notebooks (computer operating system and software) of the current BVRs needed to be upgraded, components such as “the fingerprint scanners were very robust and fit for use”.
Details
Mr Nketia said Mr Boogaard further explained that the enrolment software could easily be upgraded with facial recognition, a feature which had been incorporated in their new software release.
He said contrary to the EC’s claims of cost-saving, the cost of upgrading the current BVR equipment with new functionalities was far cheaper than replacing them with new equipment.
“SB Identifications BV is willing to assist the EC carry out these upgrades upon request,” he stated.
GenKey Africa
In a response to another email sent to GenKey Africa, suppliers of the current Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) to find out whether or not the 72,000 BVD equipment supplied to Ghana's EC were obsolete; and whether or not they could be upgraded; and at what cost, Mr Nketia said GenKey Africa, through its Managing Director/Projects Director of GenKey Africa, Mr Harold Hermans, indicated that the equipment were not obsolete.
He said GenKey Africa also indicated that it had presented a proposal to the EC for the upgrade of the equipment at a cost far cheaper than the cost of replacing the current equipment with new ones.
Timelines
Mr Nketia recalled that in the run up to the 2012 general elections when the current biometric register was introduced, the Afari Gyan-led EC ensured that all procurement processes were concluded and necessary agreements signed before the end of 2011.
“By the end of February 2012, a pilot registration exercise had been completed and a number of defects identified for further correction by the vendor,” he added.
He said as of now, the EC was yet to announce the award of the contract for procurement.
“No one can even guarantee success in compiling a new register especially when the economists are predicting a two to three months slow down in the global supply chain for equipment on account of the impact of the spread of coronavirus on the manufacturing sector,” he added.
Resist
Mr Nketia said IPRAN was, therefore, determined to do everything possible within the remit of the law to resist the machinations and attempt by the EC to waste the public purse on the needless compilation of a new voters register.
“Ghana does not need a new voters register for the 2020 general election. The current biometric voters register is credible and satisfies all the essential features of an accurate and credible voters register. None of the concerns raised by the EC impugn or undermine the credibility of the voters register (data) in any way,” he stated.
He said the current tried and tested BVMS was robust and efficient and had delivered five credible national elections since 2012 which had produced both an NDC and a New Patriotic Party (NPP) President.
He said IPRAN’s long held position had been strengthened by the ardent corroboration of the technical views expressed by technical teams of IPRAN and that of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
“No wonder that till date the EC has refused to share its much-touted technical consultant report which necessitated the call for a new voters register with political parties in the country,” he stated.