The Biometric Verification Device (BVD), otherwise known as biometric verification machine, used for the December 2012 general elections, is susceptible to manipulations, according to Phillip Addison, lead counsel for the three petitioners in the ongoing Presidential Election petition being heard at the Supreme Court.

However, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) which organized the elections, is disputing the claim.

Rounding up last week’s proceedings, it became a give-and-take affair at the Supreme Court over whether or not the BVDs can be manipulated, in the heated cross-examination which is expected to continue today.

Counsel: Dr. Afari-Gyan, do you know that the BVD machines have a button called Self Test Mode?

Witness: I know there is a button on the machine.

Counsel: Do you know it?

Witness: I know there is a Self Test Mode on the machine.

Counsel: Do you know what it does?

Witness: No, I don’t.

Counsel: Whilst the BVD is put on the Self Test Mode, it can scan any barcode.

Witness: Thank you for the explanation.

Counsel: And authenticate any finger…while it is put on the Self Test mode, it can scan any barcode and authenticate any finger.

Witness: You are giving me information.

Counsel: When the machines were brought, were these demonstrations not done?

Witness: Demonstration was done.

Counsel: So you saw how the Self Test Mode operates?

Witness: I would not be conversant with all the technical aspects of the BVD…I only know how it works in general.

Counsel: Now, are you also aware that when the SD Card is placed in a computer, an IT administrator can add or delete verified names on the list?

Witness: I am not aware of that.

James Quarshie-Idun (EC’s counsel) steps in:

“My Lords I don’t know what case these questions are designed to support…They have not accused us in their pleadings regarding the BVD.”

Justice Atuguba: Let’s hear his answer.

Dr. Afari-Gyan disputed Mr. Addison’s assertions on the serial numbers embossed on the BVDs saying “they are just numbers” although he said each device had its own number.

Counsel: Are these numbers unique to every particular BVD?

Witness: No two BVDs have the same number…you are right.

Counsel: Are these numbers entered by the presiding officer before the beginning of voting?

Witness: No.

Counsel: No?

Witness: No.

Counsel: So that in effect, no record is kept at the polling station in respect of the BVD.

Witness: It does mean that…they will have to be tracked by a higher officer who will indicate which BVD is going to which polling station.

Counsel: By what means is that done?

Witness: They are tracked by attaching the unique number on the BVD to a specific polling station…that is what we mean by tracking.

Counsel: Please come again…I asked you whether these numbers are tracked by a Presiding Officer in his records and you said no.

Witness: I said no.

Counsel: So which other records are kept by the EC in respect of the BVDs?

Witness: Before a BVD is sent to a polling station, the District Officer would have a record indicating which BVD is going to which polling station.

Counsel: So the EC has a record of which BVD is going to which polling station?

Witness: We do.

Counsel: Now, when these BVDs broke down and they had to be replaced, were records also taken of these BVDs?

Witness: They were supposed to do that.

Counsel: Were records also taken of these BVDs?

Witness: Yes.

Counsel: So you have a record of these BVDs?

Witness: We have a record of those BVDs.

Counsel: Do you have any idea how many they are?

Witness: Well, we purchased around 33,500.

Counsel: How many were used to replace the broken down ones?

Witness: I would not know because this was an ongoing activity…when a machine broke down it was immediately substituted or replaced.

The veteran Elections Administrator admitted that on election day the commission was inundated with calls about the malfunctioning of the BVDs.

Counsel: On election day did you hear any complaints about these BVDs?

Witness: Yes, there were complaints about the way they were functioning.

Counsel: What were some of the reports you received?

Witness: Well, sometimes the machines freeze.

Counsel: Were you told that these machines could freeze?

Witness: Yes, we knew, that was why we had backups.

Counsel: You were aware.

Witness: We were aware.

Counsel: So every polling station had a backup.

Witness: Not every polling station. We did not have enough money to buy a backup for every polling station.

Counsel: The BVDs were also susceptible to high temperatures, am I right?

Witness: Yes, you are right…if the temperature was too high, it could lead to a freeze of the machines.

Counsel: So what contingency plans did you put in place?

Witness: (Smiles) in some places we provided shade so that the temperatures would not be excessive.

Counsel: and in other places?

Witness: Well, we were not expecting them to freeze at every place.

Counsel: Dr. Afari-Gyan, since you knew that these machines had the propensity to freeze, would it not have been better at least to have a backup for every polling station?

Witness: If we had money we would have done exactly that.

Counsel: Dr. Afari-Gyan, I believe you presented a budget for this election.

Witness: We did.

Counsel: And the budget you presented was fully approved.

Witness: Yes.

Counsel: Indeed, I have the Parliamentary Hansard here, it says an amount of 236 057 817 million was provided to you.

Witness: It was not even sufficient (laughter in courtroom).

Counsel: You presented the budget and it was given to you; so it does not lie in your mouth to say the money was not enough.

Witness: We presented the budget and received the money and that is the reason why I know it was not sufficient.

STL Connection

The issue of the controversial Superlock Technology firm whose office was stormed by New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters during the election after allegations that the EC was routing the results through that office in Dzorwulu, Accra, also popped up in court.

Counsel: Who undertook the training of electoral staff that ran the BVDs?

Witness: It was part of the contract with the company that won the bid to supply the BVDs.

Counsel: Which company was that?

Witness: STL

Counsel: So STL trained the electoral officers?

Witness: It was a consortium of three: STL, Genke and one other company, yes, STL being the local representatives of the companies.

Counsel: So the technical officers to the BVD were STL?

Witness: No.

Counsel: Who were they?

Witness: We appointed them and they were trained.

Counsel: You appointed who?

Witness: We appointed the technical people and they were trained by the people who had supplied the machines.

Counsel: So the technical people are permanent staff of the EC?

Witness: No.

Counsel: Who are they?

Witness: They were temporary workers…since there were 26,002 polling stations and each polling station would have a BVD machine…the whole strength of the EC is 1,500 so it would have been impossible for us to man the BVDs. The BVDs were manned by temporary people who had been employed to do that.

Shortage of Technical Staff

Dr. Afari-Gyan admitted that the technical people who manned the BVDs on election day were not permanent employees of the commission and explained that the EC had shortage of staff and had to rely on outsiders.

Counsel: So there are no technical people who are permanent staff of the EC?

Witness: We have technical staff at the commission.

Counsel: So your technical staff trained the temporary technical workers?

Witness: It is a job so huge that it could not be done by our technical staff alone.

Counsel: Dr. Afari-Gyan, we were trying to get to a point…it wasn’t done by them alone so who else did it?

Witness: People were hired temporarily to train.

Counsel: These people who were hired, were temporary workers of the EC?

Witness: Yes, they were temporary workers of the EC.

Counsel: What role did they play during the election?

Witness: Well, if they were not manning the BVD machines at the polling stations, they would play no role.

Counsel: In other words, these temporary technical workers manned the BVDs throughout the whole country.

Witness: Yes.