New biometric register for 2020 is unreasonable and not needed

The intention and declaration of the management of the Electoral Commission of Ghana to put together an entirely new voter Register for the 2020 General Elections is unreasonable and a venture that must not be encouraged.

The very important question to answer before embarking on such a venture is what is wrong with the current register?

It is important to note that the current Electoral Register of Ghana is a biometric one which the EC administration is seeking to scrap for a new register. The snippets of explanation given by the current head of the Electoral Commission of Ghana and the information we have is that the current Electoral Register is over stretched; that it has High Failure Rate; that it has False NonMatch Rate; No Technology Transfer and Increasing Cost of Maintenance and System Upgrades.

Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana wonders what these mean and how and when the current Electoral Register of Ghana became over stretched.
How does an electoral register which is Information technology and biometric based be over stretched?

It is important to note that the current register put together in 2011 and used for the following elections; the 2012 General Elections; 2015 Local Assembly Elections; 2016 General Elections, 27th December 2018 Referendum and 17th December 2019 Local Assembly Elections has perfectly served its purpose.
The queries raised by both Local and International Observers about the aforementioned elections has never been about the credibility of the Electoral Register, rather about the conduct of the officers of the EC and the partakers of the said elections.

Again, the Electoral Commission formed Prof. V.C. R. A. C. Crabbe committee to consider the need or other wise for a new Biometric Register. The said committee in its findings concluded that
the argument for a new voter register was unconvincing, adding that it would not recommend the replacement of the current voter list.

What new arguments are there for the proposal to put together a new voter list? Again, what time table is there within a year to a major elections for the experiment of a new voter list. It is our view that a new voter list when put together in an election year will not be test run enough to pass the credibility test for use at 2020 General Elections.

We are of the view that based on the documentary evidence particularly of EC officials during the 27th December 2018 Referendum where the officials of EC were allegedly caught on camera elegantly stuffing ballot boxes, the focus of the EC should be the training and retraining of its officials with respect to conduct towards the very important 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

A biometrically based information system, we are informed, is capable of lending itself to addons. That, the current Electoral Register of Ghana is amenable to the addition of new biometric data of electorates.
Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana believe that the reasons tabled by the EC do not warrant the compilation of a new voter register.

It is again important to point out that a notable defect of elections conducted in recent times has been the malfunction of voter verification kits of the EC. In explaining this point it is crucial to let the public know that the voter verification kits are distinct from the Electoral Register and we are again of the view that the focal point and the energy of the EC Commissioners should be directed at getting working kits for verification of voters capable of working under even the hash weather conditions, for 2020 elections.

Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana therefore call on Mrs. Jean Mensah and her supporting commissioners to as a matter of urgency abort this regressive agenda and look at more progressive reform that will foster national cohesion. Thank you