Is EC Ready For Biometric Voters Regulation?
Ever since the coming into force of the Constitution 1992, which also marks Ghana’s 4th attempt at Constitutional Rule, Ghana had Voters Registers which had been revised over the years. Suffice it to say that, there can be no voting without a voter’s register and at least a voter identification card. This is not to suggest that Polling Stations, Collation Centers, Polling Station Officials such as District Electoral Officers, Returning Officers, Presiding Officers, Voting Assistants, Ballot Boxes, Indelible Ink and Ballot Papers are not important.
In 1992, when the Voters Register was opened, because it was new for people who had not voted since 1979, that is for over eleven (11) years since the voting that put Dr. Hilla Limann into office as our elected President of the Republic, many prospective voters did not fully appreciate the need to register.
It ought to be noted that in 1992, the present Constitution had also just come into force and many citizens were not so familiar with its contents. Again after a long autocratic military oligarchy, where all powers of state were exercised by only the Provisional National Defence Council, (PNDC) modeled along Ghadafi’s Green Book, with Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRS), Workers Defence Committees (WDCs) and People’s Defence Committee (PDCs), that democratic culture of voting and electing our leaders through the ballot was lost on the people.
The kind of experience that people went through during the PNDC or so-called revolutionary era, made people to shy away from active politics. Political Parties were proscribed and for over eleven (11) years, political party activities were non-existent. Of course, in the dying years of the PNDC era, Political Parties were formed under the guise of Fan Clubs such the Danquah-Busia Club, the Eagle Club etc. For good measure, the Legislature or Parliament was also dissolved and Members of Parliament and Ministers of State were given shabby treatment .
For over 11 years, Ghanaians who had turned adults had no taste of democratic culture of electing our leaders, seeing the opening of Parliament, the election of a Speaker and Deputies, the swearing of oaths by Speakers and Members of Parliament. They had no knowledge of the Majority and Minority in Parliament. They did not hear words such as Leadership of Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, or Parliamentary Select/Standing Committees, Public Accounts Committee, the Hansard or Parliamentary Report.
They did not hear about Parliament rising, the recall of Parliament to attend to urgent matters, Sessional Address by the President and the vetting of Ministers and Supreme Court Judges.
As for the Supreme Court, because there was no Constitution properly promulgated after a referendum setting out the parameters of the three (3) most important organs of state, it existed in those days as the highest appellate Court of the land but did not exercise any original jurisdiction having to do with the interpretation of any Constitution since there was none.
Before we lose focus on what we are discussing, let us remind ourselves that the education undertaken in 1992 for Ghanaians to Register and vote in my opinion could not strike the right chord because of the lack of democratic culture in those days.
If I recall properly, the voter identification cards issued had names, Polling Center Code with black and white pictures. Talk of double or multiple registrations by the politically active elements was rife. For lack of experience and for fear of breaches of electoral laws, many registered voters were literally afraid to exercise their franchise.
Again, there was lot of intimidation by Security Personnel on voting day. In those days, the ballot boxes were black and not transparent as we have them today and the counting never took place at the Polling Stations. I appreciate the need for security personnel in order to maintain law and order and prevent hoodlums and organized thugs from stealing ballot boxes and disrupting elections.
After (5) successive General Elections, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 with the exception of 1992 when the NPP boycotted the parliamentary elections, we can pat ourselves on the back and say that as for the 2012 elections, we have indeed arrived.
Surely, there has been improvement in the voter registration exercise. We have moved from black and white pictures to colour and today we are expecting biometric registration which is a further improvement in order to avoid multiple registrations.
But what is the meaning of biometric. It is from the word biometry and the singular noun is biometrics: which is defined as the branch of biology concerned with the applications of statistical method of analysis to biological system (see- Chambers 21st Century Dictionary). In simple terms, we are looking at a situation where the name of the voter and his/her picture are no longer enough. By Biometric, we now want something biological, that is to say the finger-prints of the voter. Â
Why finger-prints but no other part of the human body as a way of identifying voters? Again, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary provides the answer by defining and explaining why we now need to use finger-prints when it defines finger-prints as:
. the print or inked impression made by the pattern of minute swirling ridges on the surface of the end joints of the fingers and thumbs, which is unique to each person and can be used as a means of identification, especially of criminals.
I think for now we should ignore the words especially of criminals. Since language is dynamic, I believe currently we can take Âfinger-prints and use same without necessarily limiting it to criminals. Today we use finger-prints for identification purposes including the opening of door locks, when applying for passports as well as accessing money such as E-zwich; so clearly it is not only criminals whose finger-prints are needed.
For me, Chambers definition explains why we need biometric registration. Mark the underlined wordswhich is unique to each person—-Some do not like to refer to God having created everything including human beings, they prefer evolution. However, with this huge world population, it is still an undisputed fact that there are no two fingers or thumbprints which are alike: which explains the words unique to each person.
But we do have laws on registration of voters in Ghana. Let us start with our Constitution, 1992. Article 42 of the constitution deals with the Right to Vote and provides as follows;
Every citizen of Ghana of eighteen years of age or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda
Apart from the above constitutional provision, there is also C.I.12 Registration of Voters Public Elections (Registration Regulations,) 1995. By this law Article 42 has been added onto with the provisions of residency in the electoral area and not prohibited by any law in force from registering as a voter.
Rule 10 of C.I. 12 provides that the Electoral Commission shall by notice published in the Gazette; invite every person who qualifies to be registered as a voter to apply for registration of his name in the electoral area in which he ordinarily resides.
When it comes to voter identification cards or VOTER ID, rule 11 provides that the registration officer shall enter the name of the applicant in the Register and shall issue to the applicant a Voter Identification card in such form as the Commission shall determine.
There appears to be no provision for the picture whether black and white or colour. Perhaps the mandate to issue the cards with pictures could be presumed under the words in such form as the commission shall determine which appear under rule 11.
The Constitution 1992, by Article 45 sets out the functions of the Electoral Commission. There is also the Electoral Commission Act 1993 (Act 451). The Electoral Commission has power and authority inter alia to compile the register of voters and revise it at such periods as may be determined by law; to undertake programmes for the expansion of the registration of voters. The other functions are set out both in the Constitution, the law establishing the Electoral Commission and the Regulations.
Now, the issue is, since all the laws dealing with registration of voters, right from the Constitution through to the Constitutional Instrument referred to above, do not make any provision for biometric or finger print registration, then in the era of constitutionalism, it is suggested that a new Constitutional Instrument be prepared by the Electoral Commission and laid before Parliament to enable it come into force in accordance with the provisions dealing with Subsidiary Legislation, before the Electoral Commission announces a date for the commencement of the Biometric Voter Registration exercise.
It is important for the Electoral Commission to remind itself of the directive issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Luke Mensah v A. G. In that case, the Supreme Court reminded the Electoral Commission that by Article 51 of the Constitution 1992, for the effective performance of its functions whether under the Constitution or any other law, and in particular for the registration of voters, the conduct of public elections and referenda, including provision for voting by proxy, it shall make constitutional instruments.
Biometric registration is caught squarely within Article 51 of the Constitution. Thus, unless the Electoral Commission makes and lays before Parliament for twenty one (21) sitting days, a constitutional instrument, any directive issued by the Electoral Commission in respect of Biometric Registration shall have no force of law.
When we exclaim that we shall have biometric registration for the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, some tend to believe that, those magical words by themselves can prevent cheating at the elections. I am afraid that cannot be the case.
Cheating and electoral frauds can only be minimized when we progress to Biometric or Electronic Voting with the assurance that where the electronic voting systems are tampered with, there would be manual counting. The Supreme Court should not as it happened in Florida in America, stop the manual counting when Al Gore starts closing the gap.
The Electoral Commission must ensure that officials who supervise the voting centers are smart enough to identify any voters whose names, pictures, voting centers and finger prints appear in both the voter I.D. Card and the Voter Register are the ones standing in queue and entitled to be issued with Ballot Papers to cast their votes. Without the above, a biometric voter I.D. Card or registration shall be of no value and cannot prevent cheating.
This article is therefore to remind the Electoral Commission of the need to prepare a Constitutional Instrument on Biometric Registration which would take into account the best practices as they obtain in countries with Biometric Registration or Biometric or Electronic Voting.
Let it be borne in mind, that the Electoral Commission cannot publish Guidelines but it is under a Constitutional obligation to prepare and publish a Constitutional Instrument on biometric registration because as was said in Luke Mensah:
It is important to appreciate that the Electoral Commission cannot alter the boundaries of a constituency except by a Constitutional Instrument. And on the coming into force of the relevant constitutional Instrument setting out the alteration, the said boundaries become legally altered.
The writer was an Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the Kufuor Administration. Currently he is the NPP Constitutional Committee Chairman.