An independent presidential candidate in the
2012 election, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, has described the ongoing nationwide voter
register exhibition exercise as not foolproof enough to allow the Electoral
Commission (EC) to remove the dead, minors and foreigners from the Biometric
Voters Register (BVR). According to Mr Yeboah, popularly referred to as
JOY, since the exercise was not foolproof to meet set targets, the EC was
contradicting itself both legally and operationally with the Biometric Voters
Devices (BVD) used in the exhibition.
Mr Yeboah, who was speaking to the
Daily Graphic after visiting some centres, said: “A credible BVR data is built
when the input undergoes subjective (voter physical interactions) biometric
process to ensure the voter’s specification meets the 1992 Constitutional
requirement of a Ghanaian Voter (Art. 42) and addresses the real need of casting
valid votes by the living voter and not the dead,” he stated.
Article 42
states that Every citizen of Ghana of 18 years or above and of sound mind has
the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes
of public elections and referenda.
In his view, “The subjective process
ensures that the EC builds the right BVR. This process is technically called
Validation by Computer Technical Experts,” he said.
He therefore opined
that the process was “illegal” and one that would cause financial loss to the
nation.
Background
The EC, on July 18 this year, opened the voters
register for exhibition as well as offered opportunity to people whose names
were deleted from the electoral roll because they used the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards to re-register.
The exercise will also
generally afford Ghanaian voters the opportunity to verify their names and
effect corrections where needed.
According to the EC, the 21 days
exercise would also pave way for the removal of deceased registered voters,
removal of multiple registrations (with the help of the AFIS software), removal
of alleged minors and non-Ghanaians based on the production of
evidence.
The commission said it would use the Biometric Verification
devices during the exhibition period for verification of registered
voters.
JOY’s position
“Ghanaians are looking for nothing but a
credible BVR, isn't it? Yes it is. Credible BVR connotes BVR that Ghanaian
voters can believe or trust. In other words BVR that Ghanaians can think that it
is true, correct or real. BVR that Ghanaians can have confidence in its honesty,
goodness or safety to use for the 2016 election,” he argued.
Earlier, in
a letter to the EC dated June 14 this year and signed by his lawyer, Mr Peter
Kweku Nti, the former presidential candidate called on the EC to take all the
necessary steps to carry out the Supreme Court order which called for a credible
voters register.
Mr Yeboah threatened to drag the EC to court if it
failed to do so. |
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