The Sierra Leonean Biometric Experience

Dr. kwadwo Afari Gyan, EC Boss

The nationwide biometric registration exercise enters its second phase today and although some improvements have been noted, there is still room for improvement.

We would have rather the Electoral Commission (EC) takes more interest in the security of registration centres much as we agree that this assignment falls more in the purview of the Police.

The number of persons still nursing bullet and cutlass wounds is amazing, considering the fact that the exercise is a mere registration of names towards the 2012 elections.

We would like to sympathise with all those who have suffered physically at the hands of hoodlums let loose on them at the registration centres by selfish politicians who think they stand to gain when registration centres are set ablaze, as it were.

The shooting of an NPP executive in the Krowor constituency in the Greater Accra Region evokes painful memories in people who followed the story.

As we enter this second stage, it is our prayer that the EC would review its areas of interest which we plead should include the creation and strengthening of security cooperation between them and the Police.

A certain disconnect exists between the two organizations and this has served as a significant boost to hoodlums on the payroll of some politicians in the corridor of power.

The rectification of this disconnect would reverse the nasty developments in some registration centres.

We take issues with the attempts at disenfranchising students in some senior high schools.

The Hwidiem Senior High School in the Brong Ahafo Region is a case in point. The headmaster of that school, according to information reaching us, suggests that allowing the students to go and register would not be in the interest of a certain politician. He has therefore barred the students from registering, a wanton disenfranchisement with nobody raising a finger.

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission (EC) Silvia Annor, has assured Ghanaians that the matter would be investigated with a view to ensuring that nobody who is qualified to vote is disenfranchised. We pray that the EC and GES take appropriate action against the headmaster for breaching our electoral laws.

Sierra Leone, which has adopted the biometric electoral system, can teach us a lot about the novelty, having already completed registering some 2,196,679 eligible voters, according to a March 16 report from that country.

The National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (NEC) has disclosed that over 2,196,679 voters have registered through its newly-introduced biometric voter registration system, ahead of November's presidential and general elections.

Dr. Christiana Thorpe, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman, posted a bright picture of the performance of the Sierra Leonean electoral machinery, a report which both the All People's Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leonean People's Party (SLPP)- the two main parties in that country- have not demurred.

The voters were registered in the first three phases of the exercise between 23rd January and 24th February 2012, according to Dr. Christiana Thorpe.

The commission pointed out that additional kits were deployed to some centres during phase three of the registration exercise to help with the overcrowding noticed in the locations.

On registration malpractices, the Sierra Leonean NEC said 13 multiple registration cases were reported nationwide and seven of them are under police investigation, six charged to court, two convicted, three awaiting court decision and one discharged as a result of insanity.

A fantastic performance by the Sierra Leonean NEC- we can assert and wish their Ghanaian counterpart can, at the end of the day, post a similar or better report sheet. Regrettably though, the phase one of the exercise has already been stained with the blood of some citizens.