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WHY DOES VERIFICATION FRIGHTHEN “GENERAL MOSQUITO”,
PRESIDENT MILLS AND THE NDC?
What is verification or authentication? It is a process
carried out by a battery operated, electronic machine, the
size of a tissue box, that checks your face and finger
prints against your photograph and finger prints that were
taken (captured) during the registration exercise.
Many airports around the world, including Kotoka
International Airport (KIA), now use similar machines to
verify travellers against their passports.
Those for elections are specific to the polling station and
are, in effect, an electronic voters’ register.
They electronically ensure that only a voter registered to
vote at that polling station is authorised to vote.
Additionally they will show at the end of the voting process
how many persons have been authorised to vote so that the
ballots in the ballot box should be the same number as that
authorised by the machine. This is determined prior to
sorting and counting.
They are a simple, efficient way to enhance our voting
process and move us along our path to having elections that
are free and fair, with results that are accepted by all the
participants.
The cost for this process has been estimated by the
Electoral Commission as being between US$15million to
20million. Surely this is not an amount that is beyond Ghana
to ensure the peace that comes from contested election
results? Certainly it should not be beyond funding when some
“development partners” have already publicly indicated their
willingness to help should they be asked to do so.
This is a very simple matter in the interest of Ghana and
all Ghanaians and not for any one political party or the
other.
Why then are “General Mosquito”, President Mills and the NDC
so adamantly against it? What is it that they are hoping to
do that this simple, transparent and affordable process will
prevent?
The President must realise that putting in place transparent
processes that help to ensure that we have in Ghana a voting
system that gives every Ghanaian qualified to vote, the
opportunity to do so, once, and have that vote properly
counted and declared is not beating war drums!
Let us continue to deepen our democracy. Let Ghanaians have
free and fair elections and the NDC must stop trying to
manipulate the process and cheat people out of their vote.
….Signed………………..
J.O.Obetsebi-Lamptey
(National Chairman, NPP)
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