EC briefs media on biometric voter registration procedures in UWR

The Electoral Commission (EC) has organised a one-day forum to brief media practitioners and Civil Society Organisations in the Upper West Region on the new biometric voter registration exercise so that they can help educate the public.

Hajia Saadatu Maida, the EC Commissioner in charge of Upper West Region said Ghana’s democracy was growing from strength to strength and there was therefore the need to adopt a new technology to help make the electoral process more transparent.

She said biometric voter registration would prevent fraudulent practices such as multiple registration and impersonation among others. It would also prevent non-Ghanaians from registering.

The Commissioner stated that all Ghanaians who were 18 years and above would be registered using any of four identification documents namely; a passport, driver’s licenses, National Identification Card and the old voter identification card.

However, any Ghanaian who not possess any of these documents could get two other people who knew him/her to guarantee for him or her to register.

She said the EC's rules and regulations stipulated that an individual could guarantee for only five people and not more than that.

Hajia Maida said the exercise would start on 24th March, 2012 and would end on 5th April, 2012, adding that the polling station operatives would start work at 0700 hours and close at 1800 hours each day.

She said there were six operatives in each polling station and three District Supervisors to carryout the exercise in each district.

Hajia Maida said in order not to overstretch the machines, polling station operatives were expected to register from 120 to 150 people a day to enhance quality work.

She said the exercise was expected to last for 40 days but the polling station operatives were required to spend 10 days in each polling station across all the four polling stations in a cluster.

She advised the public not to think that all the 40 days were for one polling station.

The EC Commissioner stressed on vigilance on the part of political parties to help make the process transparent, adding that the EC would do its part by sanctioning any of its staff found to have gone contrary to the rules and regulations of the Commission.

She said the EC was doing all it could to reduce at least 90 per cent of all registration malpractices and called on all stakeholders including political parties to cooperate with the EC in order to have a successful voter registration exercise.**