General News of Monday, 20 January 2020
Source: starrfm.com.gh
2020-01-20
NIA Boss Professor Ken Attafuah
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has stated that the Electoral Commission can use its data for the 2020 elections instead of compiling a new voters’ register.
The EC had earlier rejected calls to use the NIA database since it has no timelines for compilation.
But NIA Boss Professor Ken Attafuah said more than half of the voting population have been captured on the NIA database and available for the EC if they request for it.
Speaking to journalists in Takoradi in the Western region, Prof. Attafuah said the NIA database can be used by the EC after March this year.
“We have registered over 7.2 million people as at today, which is more than 50 percent of the voting population. Secondly, 94 percent of those that we have registered to date are 18 years old or will be 18 by voting date, so already we have over 50 percent of the population that will vote captured.
“We have everything that the EC might want to ask of citizens for purposes of voting except polling station numbers or centres but that is as easy as ABC…and NIA has the capacity to give to the EC all the data sets of all the people who are 18 and above to the EC in a maximum of five days.”
Prof Attafuah, however, said it is the EC’s prerogative to decide if it will use the NIA database or go ahead with the plan to compile a new voter’s register.