Can you name two elections in the 4th republic which used the same procedures? Electoral reforms is not new to the EC and they didn't have to go through the election petition to admit that they need reforms. Indeed it is beca ... read full comment
Can you name two elections in the 4th republic which used the same procedures? Electoral reforms is not new to the EC and they didn't have to go through the election petition to admit that they need reforms. Indeed it is because the EC is amiable to change that is why we've moved to even using biometric verification. We do not need to review pink sheets; we all know that these errors occurred during the previous elections and will continue to occur as long us human beings have to enter them. The level can only be minimized by putting in more checks and balances throughout the process. By elevating the presiding officers position to the level of a university graduate alone can reduce these errors significantly. If the author had just spent one minute thinking of how we arrived at using biometric verification he would have known that reforms is part of the process after every election and the 2012 election is no exception. There are procedures for instituting these reforms and the EC only has to follow those procedures.
william 10 years ago
I agree. But the presiding officer need not be a university graduate! There are many who are more educated and competent than some of us university graduates. It is just a matter doing more due diligence in the the recruitme ... read full comment
I agree. But the presiding officer need not be a university graduate! There are many who are more educated and competent than some of us university graduates. It is just a matter doing more due diligence in the the recruitment process. The EC and IPAC provide enough existing institutions to drive routine reforms. Let's make them work,please.Let's build our institutions. Rome was not built in a day!!!
Wisdom 10 years ago
Using university graduates was just an example of what could be done.
I also agree that we need to build our institutions and allow them to work. That is key in the development of every nation. That is why we have to stop ... read full comment
Using university graduates was just an example of what could be done.
I also agree that we need to build our institutions and allow them to work. That is key in the development of every nation. That is why we have to stop paying so much attention to politicians who come and go and focus on building the institutions.
ghanaman 10 years ago
Not only is the article well-presented in form and factual content, the structure and style are kept elegant. Above all else, the reasoning employed in the argument is virtually flawless. The call for reforms is thus justifie ... read full comment
Not only is the article well-presented in form and factual content, the structure and style are kept elegant. Above all else, the reasoning employed in the argument is virtually flawless. The call for reforms is thus justified. Time for comprehensive review!
Paul Amuna 10 years ago
There is no doubt that the electoral commission made errors during the last parliamentary and presidential polls, and indeed the EC Commissioner Dr Afari Gyan admitted those errors in court and expressed his regret.
Howeve ... read full comment
There is no doubt that the electoral commission made errors during the last parliamentary and presidential polls, and indeed the EC Commissioner Dr Afari Gyan admitted those errors in court and expressed his regret.
However this call for the EC to "confess" is political posturing and a complete nonsense to start with. Furthermore the call for "electoral reform" is overhyped political garbage which does nothing to enhance our democracy nor does it solve the problems we witnessed in the elections.
The ERRORS (and that is all they were) we saw were down to TWO THINGS: 1. HUMAN ERROR; 2. MACHINE ERROR.
Fixing the Human Error does not call for the type of "wholesale reform" that some either ignorantly or deliberately (for political reasons) are calling for. At best, the majority of the problems are procedural and can be fixed by ensuring that staff are well trained, are clear about the terms of their employment, the terms of reference for their role on election day, and that supervisors at all levels and all party representatives are SCHOOLED in how to do their job. It also calls for GOOD PUBLIC EDUCATION on the electoral processes, rules and how to conduct themselves.
Don't fix what is clearly not broken. Ours is a fine display of electoral stability. Just take a look around us not only in Africa but across the world and compare the problems we had which in my view were exaggerated by a court petition which should not have been in the first place. WSe are miles ahead of others. That is not to say that we do not have problems with our ELECTORAL PROCESSES. The answer is NOT reform but ensuring GOOD GOVERNANCE of our electoral system through GOOD HUMAN PERFORMANCE.
The Machine errors can, and should be fixed by checking, testing and ensuring that the machines are working properly. That however cannot be guaranteed. I will give you two examples to buttress my point. Only last week I was at a 4 day workshop mainly to TEST a new integrated electronic health care system we are putting in place to capture health data acrfoss a whole country. Even though various teams (including my team which was focused mainly on health research) had worked tirelessly leading up to the TESTING of the system, we spent 4 whole days going through and seeing how all the different components link up and work together.
This reminded me of the FAILED launch of the Affordable Care Act Electronic system in the US (of all countries). Can anyone please explain to me why the United States, and after what was after all such a seriously contentious issue - Obama Care, will go through Congress, fight to get the Act passed and defended, only to fall at the LAUNCH of the system!!! That is far worse than any electoral GLITCHES we had during our elections and for which the petitioners in my view erroneously sought to bring the country to its knees through a petition which did not hold water. I still think the supreme justices who voted in support of parts of the petitioners' case were WHOLLY WRONG in their rulings.
Finally, in my own experience, I have travelled abroad on two occasions over the last two months, and on each occasion, upon my return, (believe you me) the BIOMETRIC MACHINES installed for FACIAL AND IRIS RECOGNITION have FAILED to recognise me or pick me up!!!, and not just me but some other passengers coming through althout it has had no difficulty recognising others!!! Tell me somebody: Does that make me not the real person? Does that make be an impostor? Does that make me unqualified to enter the country? Thank God we are dealing with reasonable human beings who have OTHER means of VERIFICATION at their disposal and therefore on BOTH occasions have let me through!!! I might have been denied voting had this been Ghana's electoral machines.
Why do we seek to complicate things always when commonsense should prevail? We have just wasted a lot of TAXPAYERS' money through the courts (and I am still not sure who is picking up the bill for that bogus electoral petition). Now the same people who made all the 'empty noise' now have the guts to tell the electoral commission to "CONFESS"!!! confess what? The obvious?
This is a complete nonsense in my view and a waste of our time, eneregy and space. Politicians and political parties need to grow up, and be more responsible and more responsive. I see a complete failure of leadership in our political parties, indiscipline and blatant disregard for the very core values of our humanity and the tenets of our constitution which stipulates that ALL who are qwualified to vote MUST be allowed to do so.
If there should be any reforms, these should be focused in my view on whether to allow the rather silly and whooly constitutional instrument which sought to confuse the original constitutional provision by creating a nebulous situation for some to misinterpret the ;law of the land to suggest that BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION using MACHINES was perhaps more important than the good old tried and tested BIOMETRIC (YES) SYSTEMS INCLUDING FINGER PRINTING and the use of authentic Identification Documents e.g. ID Cards and Passport.
Kofi, can you or anyone tell me, why is it that when we all travel across borders, the MOST IMPORTANT item of identification is one's PASSPORT, not SO-CALLED BIOMETRIC machine data? I like the fact that you have raised this topic for discussion but frankly, I think those who are calling for these "reforms" are simply playing politics and trust me, even if you asked them to just suggest 2 reforms that should be introduced, they simply cannot come up with a single one. I feel very strongly about this.
Kofi Ata, Cambridge, UK 10 years ago
Paul, to be honest with you this article is very old and cannot even remember the issues I raised therein without reading over it but I am lazy to do so. I agree with you that, the one way verification was difficult for me to ... read full comment
Paul, to be honest with you this article is very old and cannot even remember the issues I raised therein without reading over it but I am lazy to do so. I agree with you that, the one way verification was difficult for me to understand. Taking the human element out of the equation and depending solely on a machine is new to me. As in the case of your own experience at airports, the human element cannot be taken away when it comes to verification.
KKO 10 years ago
Kofi,
This is a very interesting piece. I will suggest two final year student projects, one in Mathematics and one is statistics, analysing all 52,000 pinks sheets, to determine the extent of the "errors", to find out as you ... read full comment
Kofi,
This is a very interesting piece. I will suggest two final year student projects, one in Mathematics and one is statistics, analysing all 52,000 pinks sheets, to determine the extent of the "errors", to find out as you point out, whether they were normal human errors, systemic or deliberate.
That will be more cost effective, efficient and devoid of political coloration. The results of such an independent study which should be concluded by the 2013//14 academic year, will form a more credible basis for the reforms which are clearly needed, to prevent unnecessary battles at the polling stations in 2016!
Can you name two elections in the 4th republic which used the same procedures? Electoral reforms is not new to the EC and they didn't have to go through the election petition to admit that they need reforms. Indeed it is beca ...
read full comment
I agree. But the presiding officer need not be a university graduate! There are many who are more educated and competent than some of us university graduates. It is just a matter doing more due diligence in the the recruitme ...
read full comment
Using university graduates was just an example of what could be done.
I also agree that we need to build our institutions and allow them to work. That is key in the development of every nation. That is why we have to stop ...
read full comment
Not only is the article well-presented in form and factual content, the structure and style are kept elegant. Above all else, the reasoning employed in the argument is virtually flawless. The call for reforms is thus justifie ...
read full comment
There is no doubt that the electoral commission made errors during the last parliamentary and presidential polls, and indeed the EC Commissioner Dr Afari Gyan admitted those errors in court and expressed his regret.
Howeve ...
read full comment
Paul, to be honest with you this article is very old and cannot even remember the issues I raised therein without reading over it but I am lazy to do so. I agree with you that, the one way verification was difficult for me to ...
read full comment
Kofi,
This is a very interesting piece. I will suggest two final year student projects, one in Mathematics and one is statistics, analysing all 52,000 pinks sheets, to determine the extent of the "errors", to find out as you ...
read full comment