EC urged to expedite action on Biometric Registration

The Electoral Commission (EC) has been urged to expedite action on the registration and verification of the Biometric Voting process to ensure transparent and peaceful parliamentary and presidential polls in 2012.

Mr. K. K. Sam, Western Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Takoradi.

He said as a result of the numerous complaints associated with elections in the country coupled with purported vote rigging and manipulation, it would be appropriated if the EC put mechanisms in place early to test the system before the voting time in December.

“This will enable the EC to detect all the errors that might crop up in the system for early corrections so that it will not degenerate into electoral disputes and possible unrest,” he said.

Mr Sam urged the EC to draw its election budget early so that it could seek the necessary financial support from the government and other donor communities to forestall the irregularities that occurred in the recent district level elections.

He noted that the EC should start public education on the biometric registration exercise early to let the public understand the system in order to forestall any unnecessary propaganda and dissemination of falsehood by political parties.

Mr Sam added that if the EC implemented the Biometric Voting system successfully in next year’s polls, it would be a feather in its cup and serve as a shinning example to other West African countries and Africa as a whole.

It would be recalled that the government had released 80 million Ghana cedis to the EC to start preparations on the biometric registration and verification ahead of the 2012 general elections

Source: GNA