A private legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong wants manufacturers of the Electoral Commission’s current Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS) to clarify issues surrounding the system.
There are conflicting reports on whether the EC’s current biometric system is obsolete or not.
Officials of the EC had earlier stated that the manufacturers of the system had told them that, the current system is obsolete warranting the procurement of a new one.
Following the recommendation, the Electoral Commission has announced the procurement of a new system with facial recognition plugin. It has also announced the compilation of a new voters’ register ahead of the December 7 general elections.
The EC’s decision has been greeted with mixed reactions.
EC’s system not obsolete
The leadership of the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Register had insisted that claims that the Electoral Commission’s Biometric Voter Management System is obsolete are false.
The group at a press conference on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, claimed it sent an email on January 1, 2020, to the manufacturers of the current BVR equipment, seeking information on whether or not the current BVR equipment can be upgraded to include facial recognition.
The group said, in response to the email dated January 2, 2020, Mr. Maxwell Bogad of HNB identification delivery indicated “that the current BVRs are not obsolete.”
State official position
While speaking on Citi FM and Citi TV’s weekend current affairs show ‘The Big Issue’ on Saturday, 7th March 2020, Yaw Oppong insisted that the manufacturers of the EC’s current biometric system must clarify the issue in their own interest.
“Currently there are two conflicting documents all sourced to them [manufacturers] and they are a company of international repute so it is in their own interest to come out and clarify their position,” he said.
EC’s biometric verification system not obsolete – Group opposing new register
While addressing the press on Tuesday,3rd March 2020, the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and leading member of the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Register, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said EC’s current system could be upgraded to have the facial recognition component the EC wants to add to the register.
“On 1st January 2020, we sent an email to the manufacturers of the current BVR equipment, seeking information on whether or not the current BVR equipment can be upgraded to include facial recognition. In response to this email dated 2nd January 2020, Mr. Maxwell Bogad of HNB identification delivery indicated as follows; that the current BVRs are not obsolete.”
“Although the computer operating systems and software of the current BVR need to be upgraded, components like the fingerprints and scanners were very robust and fit for use. The enrollment software can easily be upgraded with facial recognition…The cost of upgrading the BVR equipment with new functionalities will be far cheaper than replacing them with new equipment,” he added.