Inadequate education on biometric voter registration is cause to misunderstandings – Foreign Minister

Inadequate education on the ongoing biometric voter registration exercise is the cause of pockets of misunderstanding and resentment that had characterised the national exercise in some registration centres.

Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said this on Thursday at a Commonwealth Roundtable organised by the British High Commission to host Lord David Howell, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

He is also the UK Government Minister with lead responsibility for Commonwealth issues who is currently on a visit to Ghana.

The forum is to enable Lord Howell to discuss efforts to increase the effectiveness and relevance of Commonwealth to memberships and focus on areas where it has a comparative advantage.

Speaking on the biometric registration exercise, Alhaji Mumuni said the subject of “residency” had become a bone of contention thus sparking off lots of dissenting views of who or what qualifies a person to be a resident in an electoral area.

He acknowledged the contributions made by the Commonwealth during Election 2008 and expressed confidence the same would be made for Election 2012.

Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of Institute for Democratic Governance who is also a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons, said the country needed to focus on civic vigilance and empowerment of the security agencies to address threats to peaceful elections.

Dr Akwetey said it was when the operational effectiveness of the Police was strengthened that the country could clamp down on threats to peaceful democratic process.

He however expressed disquiet over lack of authoritative statements on the issue.

Source: GNA