The Electoral Commission (EC) has described as fabrications claims by some personalities that the commission’s biometric voters’ registration (BVR) kits being used for the ongoing voters’ registration exercise are old stuff.
A statement by the commission states that “these individuals have made it their duty to mislead the public on the commission’s work and processes. Right from the piloting stage, it had been said that the BVR kits were the obsolete ones.”
The commission “would have ignored the lies being peddled; however, it owed it a duty to its key stakeholders, especially the citizenry, to inform them about the truth and the facts.”
The assertion by some individuals that 40 per cent of the BVR kits being used are old kits, the commission states “is an outright lie. For the avoidance of doubt, all kits currently in use for the registration exercise are brand new.”
Continuing, the commission pointed out that there was not a single obsolete kit in the field. The individuals making the claims, the commission observed, had not mentioned where the old equipment were being used, and therefore “challenged the authors of the misleading reports to name the centres where the old kits were being used for the benefit of the people of Ghana.”
As part of the commission’s procurement of a new biometric voters’ management system, 8500 BVR kits were procured from Thales, all of which had been received and deployed into the field, the commission stated, pointing out that “indeed the new kits currently in use are completely different from the old ones in terms of look, appearance and functionality. As a commission we will continue to provide information to the public based on truth and facts.” Captured below are features of the old and newly procured BVR kits; the new BVR kit has three red handles, one at the front and two at the sides, whereas the old one has a single handle on the front which is black in colour. The new BVR kit has a kit ID number and QR code in the front. The old kit does not have this feature. The new BVR kit has a charging point in front of it with two LED alert lights but there is no such thing on the old kit. The new BVR kit has a daily print out system that makes data collation easier. With the old kit, registration officers typically would have to take the components of the kit out of the case to use, but the new one is designed for the kits to be used in-situ. The new BVR kit has the EC logo on the cover of the notebook computer. The old BVR kit does not. The difference becomes even more apparent once both kits are open. Photographs of both kits are attached to enable the public ascertain the truth.
By A.R. Gomda