EC's reasons for new register fraudulent - Inter-Party Resistance
The Inter-Party Resistance Against the new voters' register says the reasons given by the Electoral Commission on why it wants to compile a new voters register are fallacious and must be rejected by all Ghanaians in the interest of safeguarding Ghana's democracy.
The "Resistance" which is comprised of political parties including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), All Peoples Congress (APC) and Peoples National Convention (PNC), said the EC was engaging in fraud and inherent lies with the justifications it has provided for a new register.
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In a presentation titled: Understanding Why Ghana Doesn't Need a New Voters Register for 2020, the IT Director of the NDC, Mr Osei Kwame Griffiths said none of the challenges suggested by the EC undermines the credibility of the current voter's register.
He said even though claims by the EC that some of the current mobile registration workstations were faulty were somewhat true, the workstation can be replaced at a far lower cost as compared to replacing the entire register.
"Is the Current Biometric Register Credible? Yes, and this was confirmed by the EC as recent as the 16th of December, 2019," Mr Griffiths said.
"The EC has not been able to impugn the credibility of the current biometric register in any way. The current register satisfies all the essential conditions for a credible register set out by the EC to the Eminent Advisory Committee and the Inter-Party Advisory Committee".
Network Challenges
Discounting the claim by the EC that the current system has a low bandwidth and was susceptible to changes in the weather, Mr Griffiths contended that low bandwidth was a general challenge associated with the V-Sat technology employed by the system.
However, he contended that the system was designed for continuous registration for the EC's district offices and not mass registration.
Exaggerated data centre challenges
Mr Griffiths described as largely exaggerated claims by the EC that its data centre was defective since the centre has worked effectively since 2012.
"Moreover, Data Center Upgrades are normal and do not call for the compilation of a new register. For example, a National networked bank that plans to build a new data centre does not need to invite all its customers to recapture their details.
"Assuming without admitting that the EC needs a new Data Center, the NITA Facility built by the erstwhile Mahama Administration can serve the purpose at a reduced cost".
ECs unrealistic timeline
In closing remarks at the event, the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah said the timeline for the compilation of a new voters' register was unrealistic and would disenfranchise a lot of Ghanaians.
Read Mr Osei Kwame Griffiths' presentation below;
Understanding Why Ghana Doesn't Need a New Voters Register for 2020 by Kweku Zurek on Scribd
