PRESS STATEMENT

08TH NOVEMBER 2011

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)