Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, EC Boss
The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan says it will cost the EC an extra 20 million dollars to meet opposition parties’ demands for a biometric voters’ register that is verifiable.
He however says the additional feature is not a priority.
The EC this week awarded the contract for the procurement of equipment with which to compile a biometric voters’ register which Dr. Afari Gyan prefers should be in place before a verification system is considered.
He told Joy News’ Sammy Darko the current electoral system provides several options for the identity of a voter to be authenticated.
“The so called verification is not part of the registration process; it becomes an issue when you are going to vote at the point of the ballot so we should not confuse biometric voter registration with verification which means trying to establish the identity of the voter,” Dr Afari Gyan said.
He said a successful biometric registration will ensure multiple registration is completely eliminated and that nobody’s name occurs twice anywhere.
“Beyond that…do we need a [verification system] is a matter for open debate and funds being available,” he stated.
He said currently the EC’s priority was to conduct a credible biometric registration exercise.
Source: Myjoyonline