Through vigilance a credible voter register can be created – Dadzawa

Mrs Pauline Adobea Dadzawa, a commissioner of the Electoral Commission (EC), has stated that the commission would be able to get a credible voter register if all stakeholders are vigilant during the biometric registration exercise.

She said the EC alone could not produce a reliable voter register if practices like impersonation and multiple registrations were overlooked by the general public.

Mrs Dadzawa said this during a day’s Dialogue on the Biometric voter registration for the media and Queen mothers in Cape Coast in the Central Region.

The Dialogue which was organized by the EC in collaboration with KAB Governance Consult (KGC) was to build a consensus between all stakeholders as well as educate them on the requirements for the voter registration, history of voter registration, challenges and the need for the Biometric voter registration.

Mrs Dadzawa said the commission was committed at producing a credible and reliable voter register to give the 2012 elections the needed credibility and that over the years the commission had embarked on a number of measures to improve upon the voter register.

She explained that over the years before the commission would conduct an election it would create a credible register, stressing that during the 1992 election the Commission used the house to house registration method which had its own challenges and that in the 1995 registration the commission introduced the Voter ID cards with coloured photos for urban areas whiles the rural areas used the thumb print ID.

The commissioner said in 2000 all the thumb print ID cards were changed to coloured Photo ID and that in 2004 the photos in the ID were changed from color to black and white to differentiate between the old and the new cards.

Mrs Dadzawa said even though the EC had put in place a number of measures to create a credible register it was still saddled with the problem of impersonation and multiple registration hence the introduction of the Biometric voter registration system .

She said the Biometric registration system would be an improvement over the previous registrations and that the exercise could cover a 100 percent registration and urged the media to intensify public education on the need for all to register since without the Biometric voter card they would not be able to exercise their franchise.

The commissioner said enough machine and backups have been provided for the exercise and urged eligible voters not to rush for registration in the first few days of the exercise since the exercise would last for 10 days at each polling station. She also advised that people should register at centres they would be voting.

She said the machines cannot identify minors and foreigners and urged all to be vigilant during the exercise to avoid the registration of unqualified people adding that provision have also not been made for those who would be hospitalized during the registration exercise.

Mr Serebour Quaicoe, Deputy Regional Director, commended the media for the role they play in the society stressing that they could make and unmake events such as elections and urged them to be fair and objective in their reportage.**