EC to recruit 42,000 personnel for Biometric Voter Registration

The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday said it would recruit about 42,000 temporal personnel to operate the 7,000 Digital Registration Kits for the nationwide Biometric Voter Registration exercise slated for March 24 to May 5, 2012.

In addition to the temporal registration officials, EC personnel, Commission members, agents of political parties and the media would be accredited to monitor the process to inject vigilance.

Speaking at a day’s workshop with election stakeholders organised by Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, EC Chairman said the recruits would go through vigorous training process to manage the equipment and ensure efficiency.

He explained that as part of equipping stakeholders to appreciate the Biometric Voter Registration, EC had engaged stakeholders to explain the whole exercise.

On the pilot Biometric Voter Registration exercise, Dr Afari Gyan noted that the Commission was satisfied with the exercise, which served as a trial run for the main process.

He explained that the registration figures showed that each team could undertake more than 100 registrations per day, while the efficiency of data entry clerks improved from day to day.

The EC Chairman categorised the results of the pilot project into two – administrative and training; the test registration has brought to the fore the need to provide call cards to data officials to facilitate communication.

He said other issues that came up would be factored into the training of the field operatives, stressing that during the exercise it became apparent that it was difficult to capture the fingerprints of some people.

“In some cases, soap and water had to be used to wash the hands in view of these developments. Soap and water will be available at every registration centre in case such a need arises.

The EC Chairman reiterated that the qualification criteria for participation in the biometric voter registration exercise, prospective voter was required to provide their exact date of birth, their current residential address as well as their hometown address.

The applicant is also required to show evidence of eligibility to register by providing a birth certificate, passport, baptismal card, a driver’s licence or a national health insurance card, the national identity card or the existing voter’s identity card.

Dr Afari Gyan said for security reasons all 10 fingers of applicants as well as their images would be captured digitally as part of the registration exercise.

“In the event of an applicant having lost some fingers, the fingerprints of the available fingers will be captured. Special arrangements will also be made for the registration of persons without fingers,” the EC Chairman explained.

He said after the registration formalities, applicants would receive a new Voter’s Identity Card which contained their photograph and a barcode containing their unique ID card number.

Dr Afari Gyan, said measures had been taken to ensure that data captured during the registration process was secured.

To this end; a technical committee had been set up comprising staff of the EC and representatives from the political parties to examine ways of achieving data security.

He assured stakeholders in Ghana’s electoral system that the biometric voter register would be ready for the December polls.

Dr Afari Gyan said for operational purposes, the nationwide exercise would be carried out in four phases with each phase lasting for a maximum of 10 days with weekends inclusive.

The EC Chairman said phase one of the registration exercise would start on March 24-April 2; the second phase continuing almost immediately from April 4-13; third phase from April 15-24 and the final phase running from April 26-May 5.

He said four polling stations would be combined to form a cluster of registration points and advised all Ghanaians of 18 years and above with sound mind to take advantage of the opportunity to register.

Dr Afari Gyan cautioned that the exercise would not be extended therfore, all should take advantage of it.

As part of the registration process, a pilot project of the biometric registration is expected to be carried out in all the Regions at a yet to be announced date.