Afari-Gyan's 'face only' verification claim is strange – Ayikoi Otoo

Former Attorney General and leading member of the NPP, Ayikoi Otoo has described Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan’s claim that people with permanent trauma were verified as ‘face only’ when they placed their card on the verification machine during voting, as a "strange proposition of the biometric verification system'.

Ayikoi Otoo argued: "it is only when you put your fingers on the machine that your picture pops up", therefore, "if you are holding a card where do you put it?"

He believes it is the ID card that can be used to check the true identity of the voter and this card cannot be put into the machine "so what is this strange proposition?".

He alluded to a CODEO report on the just ended election which expressed dissatisfaction with Dr. Afari-Gyan for failing to make it possible for persons with permanent trauma to vote even though he had promised. This implies that persons with permanent trauma were denied the opportunity to vote.

"Who said if you go to the bank ATM you necessarily must have fingers to be able to do that...science has progressed; progressed in such a way that they can take your picture, facial observation, that is not biometric" Otoo said on Joint Caucus, a current affairs programme on Joynews on MultiTV.

On the contrary, the Legal Spokesperson for the NDC, Nana Ato Dadzie, attributed the stance of Ayikoi Otoo to his struggle in dealing with ‘defeat’ after the election.

Touching on trans-position errors and their possible effects on the outcome of an election, Nana Ato Dadzie admitted ‘as for trans-position errors they do occur’’ but there are internal mechanisms to correct these errors before the final decision is taken.

But Ayikoi Otoo insisted, ‘it is not true’.

He cited an instance in Cape Coast where a candidate was denied his seat because the special voting had not been added to the total votes cast despite calls to effect the correction. Even though the case went to court, it took four years for a decision to be made and by the time the final decision was taken, they had four months more to go for another election "so he never took his seat" as an MP. This could rob people of their votes’ he contrasted.

On the issue of Dr. Afari-Gyan being in the witness box to give evidence as the first respondent in the election petition hearing instead of Amadou Seidu who swore the affidavit on behalf of the EC, Nana Ato Dadzie was of the view that, the court ruling on the petitioners’ objection was appropriate. He said even though Amadou Seidu swore the affidavit on behalf of the EC, as long as the Chairman of the EC is in court, he is the best spokesperson for the first respondent. "The proper spokesperson for the Electoral Commission, or a company is the Manager, the Chief Executive, and that was exactly what I believe he did", he added.

However, the NPP's Ayikoi Otoo insisted, ‘based on the law as I know it the person who has sworn the affidavit is the person who should speak to it…. Based on what I knew, what happened was wrong’’.