Election in Ghana and elsewhere, they say, is not an event but a process which process begins with compiling a credible voters’ register; to the verification of the authenticity of the entries in the electoral list (register); to the exhibition of the voters’ register; to furnishing political parties with a provisional register; to the submission of the names of competing candidates; to training of electoral officials; to furnishing political parties with the final voters’ register; to opening of parliamentary and presidential nominations; to publication of notice of polls, among other things.
All these processes/activities are time bound and guided by a legal regime (i.e. Constitutional Instrument 91 as well as C.I. 94), both of which were enacted pursuant to the relevant provisions of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Interestingly, these provisions governing the conduct of elections particularly the date of holding elections are all entrenched provisions, and so amendment of same requires some mechanical and cumbersome processes, including the holding of a nationwide referendum.
There is absolutely no gainsaying that of all the election-related activities or processes, the most critical is voter registration, because there cannot be a free and fair election without a credible register. And there cannot be a credible register without a credible voter management solution/technology, which provides the platform for voter registration, data storage, verification and elections.
Does Ghana Have A Credible Voter Management Solution For Election 2020?
The answer to this question, the writer submits, is an emphatic NO. The independent constitutional body that is clothed with the sole mandate of administering public elections in this country, the Electoral Commission of Ghana, has told us time without number that the country, as we speak, has no voter management solution that is fit for purpose. So, what is the current status of the biometric voter management solution that was used for election 2012 and 2016?
The EC tells us that based on the advice of its IT team and external Consultants on the status of this voter management solution, it would be prudent and cost-effective to acquire a new solution/system rather than refurbish the current system which had become obsolete and unfit for purpose.
The Commission also produces evidence of a letter from the immediate past vendors of the current biometric system, which was contracted by the Charlotte Osei-led EC stating that the Commission would assume so much needles risks if steps were not taken to change the current equipment. The letter stated in parts that:
“We would be like to announce that the items in the present BVRs are end-of-life, including laptops. This means that no components are available to repair the items. For purposes of availability, maintainability and compatibility in the future we recommend to the EC to purchase new BVRs. If you have any questions please contact us.”
We should not also forget that it has always been the practice over the years for the EC to replace the voters’ register after every eight years usually in election years; i.e. after two general elections and two district level elections due to population dynamics and technological innovations. The reason for the periodic replacement of the voters’ register is mainly as a result of reforms to improve the credibility and integrity of the register in line with advancement in technology.
The need to have a new system has become even more compelling because the current biometric system is unable to verify a number of voters electronically resulting in a high number of manual verification on voting day, which is largely unreliable and a potential source of dispute as it tends to compromise the integrity of the elections.
Also, the current biometric architecture does not have a facial recognition technology nor does it allow for a facial recognition add-on to be added. The new system the EC intends to acquire ahead of the 2020 elections will have a facial recognition as an additional feature for those whose fingers cannot be verified and thus reduce the high incidence of manual verification which often proves to be problematic and tends to compromise the credibility of our elections.
The new system will also significantly reduce if not completely eliminate the increasingly high identification failure rate by using new scanners and software with improved fingerprint capturing algorithm and the use of certified fingerprint image quality assessment software to ensure image quality. Registration officials will now have real time image quality feedback to improve capture.
Finally, the EC tells us that their staff were not trained on the current solution per the contractual terms to enable the Commission to take over after the expiration of the contract. They say their staff are not able to (by themselves) update or enhance the software solutions at the time of the handing over.
“The EC is currently building and enhancing in house capacity and recruiting skilled IT Professionals. However, the source code for the software solution is not available. It is in the possession of the vendor. It will be highly unwise on our part to continue to run a solution we do not have control over. This will be a huge risk to the Country and is akin to mortgaging our sovereignty to a foreign vendor. A case in point is the last elections in Kenya where the vendor of the solution travelled outside the country after the elections and locked up the data. This led to a re-run and violence”, the EC said at a press conference it held recently.
Why Should Ghanaians Trust The EC?
The Constitution of Ghana makes the EC the sole authority to administer public elections (including the registration of voters) in this country and also said, the EC, in the discharge of its mandate, is not subject to the direction of anybody or authority. Having regard to these explicit constitutional imperatives, the EC takes sole responsibility for the conduct of elections in Ghana, and so if anything goes wrong, it is the EC that will be faulted and not any person or authority.
Nobody will fault the NDC and their Asiedu Nketia who cannot think beyond seeing Mr. John Mahama occupy the Jubilee House. Nobody will fault the CSOs, a lot of whom become relevant only when they take controversial position on national matters. So, if the EC, being the body that will be held solely responsible for any election mishap, tells us that it cannot conduct a credible election in December without acquiring a new biometric voter solution, why should anybody who has no such responsibility seek to force the Commission to do what they clearly said they cannot do? Are we setting a trap for them to fall into and later blame them?
On any day, I will choose to believe the EC than any political party. In any case, to say you don’t trust the EC is tantamount to calling for a civil war because what that will mean is that if the EC conducts the elections (which will definitely happen), you are going to reject the outcome of same, and that could prove very problematic and a recipe for chaos judging from the experience of other countries.
By Alhaji Iddi Muhayu-Deen