We Will Resist EC’s Clandestine Attempts To Diminish Transparency In Voter Registration-NDC
Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), says it will resist the Electoral Commission’s (EC) clandestine attempts aimed at diminishing transparency in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
The decision of the NDC to resist attempts by the EC to diminish transparency in the voter registering of eligible electorates was triggered by the EC’s directive to its officials to prevent NDC’s agents from documenting and transmitting all serial numbers of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise to its headquarters.
The party’s decision to document all serial numbers of BVR kits was occasioned by the recent theft of some BVR kits kept under CCTV surveillance at the headquarters of the EC.
At a news conference in Accra, said his outfit had always been suspicious that the stolen kits would be used to illegally register some people in order to add them to the voters’ register to enable them vote on December 07, 2024.
He said “If hardware can be stolen under CCTV surveillance, why not activation code? Faced with this imminent threat of a compromised voter register, we adopted a precautionary measure going into the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
The NDC tasked its registration agents across the country to record the serial numbers of all BVR kits that will be deployed by the EC. Among others, the essence of recording the serial numbers of the BVR kits will help us trace, identify and match every registration data emanating from a specific district or electoral Area.
The serial numbers will also help us track all authorized personnel (EC’s officials) who operate the BVR kits in an electoral area.
This will forestall any clandestine registration aimed at contaminating the voters register. We are determined to ringfence the threat and risk to the 2024 elections by documenting the serial numbers of each BVR kit that will be used in this registration exercise.
Our agents also have our firm instructions that if BVR kits malfunction and are replaced during registration, they should duly record the serial numbers of the new BVR kits and the date and time of use.
We are utterly surprised that this precautionary measure taken by the NDC is being resisted by the Electoral Commission. Why is the EC resisting and stopping NDC registration agents from recording the serial numbers of BVR kits? The big question is, what does the EC have to hide?
What is their fear over the mere recording of the serial numbers of these BVR kits knowing very well some have been stolen under their watch?
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Is there something they are hiding from the public? Will our precautionary measure not prevent the criminals who stole the BVR kits from using them to illegally register people?
If the EC has nothing to hide, they should just allow willing political parties to record the serial numbers of BVR kits during this limited voter registration exercise.
On election day,serial numbers of Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) are recorded on the statement of polls (pinksheets).
Agents of political parties have access to the serial numbers of BVDs. So, why stop the recording of serial numbers of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits?
We wish to serve notice and notice is hereby served that NDC registration agents across the country will resist the EC’s clandestine attempts aimed at diminishing transparency in the voter registration exercise.”
The National Chairman of NDC urged its agents to activate the party’s super hi-tech application systems to transmit all serial numbers of BVR kits in their districts and electoral areas to the National Elections and Information Technology Directorate of the party, with or without the approval of the EC.
The EC, according to Asiedu Nketiah, has no option but to allow NDC agents to record the serial numbers of the BVR kits deployed for this registration exercise if they have nothing to hide.
He said, “Improved transparency is beneficial to all stakeholders but above all, it enhances the credibility of the EC.”
Source: Adovor Nutifafa
dovor100@gmail.com
