“The register that we are going to use for tomorrow’s election (district-level election) is very credible.

We have updated the register, we have exhibited the register and we have effected all the necessary corrections, so it is very credible; and the commission is in the process of changing the current register, going into 2020,” he explained in response to a question at a press conference to shed light on the district-level election slated for today, December 17, 2019.

Explanation

“The register is made up of names of all eligible voters who have been captured.

However, what the commission is seeing is that with the current biometric solution, we are having challenges in capturing eligible voters.

So we are using the fingerprints.

We saw that we are having challenges with the fingerprints and we felt that the Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) are not able to verify the voters, and at times we go on to use manual verification.

“So the commission intends to add another enhanced feature, which is facial. So this and many other challenges are informing the commission to go in for a new biometric solution,” Mr Tettey added.

Bossman-Asare

Adding to that, the Deputy Chairman in charge of Public Affairs of the EC, Dr Eric Bossman-Asare, restated that the register that was going to be used for the district-level election was very credible but “you know at times, something is very credible but you have stretched it to the limit and you work with professionals, scientists who would tell you that this thing you are using, you have got to be very very careful”.

The voters register, he said, was credible but it had been stretched to a point.

The current problems, he said, followed when some people were said not to have been captured properly because of the equipment the EC was using.

“These equipment, we started using them in 2012 and those of you who are familiar with technology, an equipment you bought in 2012, you would want to make changes to it and use it; it is not the same as something you are purchasing anew.

“Technology advances and this is not like the commission can do it so you are doing it.

This is the only commission mandated by law to ensure we run a credible election.

So it is our job to make sure that going into a major election, a very partisan election (2020), you have what it takes, so why don’t you invest the resources and do it so that at the end of the day, Ghanaians would know that they have a very credible system,” he said, among other things.