EC’s new biometric kit takes 10 minutes to register just one person - Asiedu Nketia

General Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia claims it takes almost 10minutes for just one person to fully complete the process of acquiring a card under the new voters registration exercise currently being piloted by the Electoral Commission (EC).

This clearly indicates, he asserts, that if on the average 500 people are supposed to be registered at a centre in a day, it will be highly improbable for the electoral body to meet its 6 days target of registering all eligible persons in order to conclude the exercise.

“As we are hearing that it can take 10 minutes for the EC officials to register one person at a particular centre, if you are not there to take this evidence, you will not know. If every centre, they are supposed to register averagely 500 a day, then in 6 days that will be 3,000. And if they use 10 minutes to register one person, mathematically, the measures put in place by the EC is wrong”, he claimed.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah, who admitted sanctioning his party's decision to partake in the Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) nationwide pilot registration exercise, revealed he did so to find faults in the exercise which will help buttress their stance against the EC's position.

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said their participation in the pilot registration exercise does not mean the opposition agrees that a new voters register should be compiled.

“If someone sits somewhere to say that NDC is taking part in the pilot registration exercise and for that matter, we have agreed that the registration should take place, then the person does not understand elections and registration process.

“Yes, I gave the directive that they should take part in the pilot registration exercise. The reason is that, they are testing the exercise and so if we don’t participate, how can we report on the glitches? This is not the actual registration; the EC says it is testing and if it is brand new machines or old machines, if you are not there, how will you know this information about the machines used for the exercise and pass comment about it?”

“...we want to find out whether the machines will work or not and that will inform our decision as to whether the machines are effective or not”, he stressed.

According to him, the NDC wants to build up a solid case against the EC's decision to compile a new voters register and the best way to go about that was to partake in the exercise and gather evidence NDC to solidify their case.

“All of us must be a witness to it so that if the pilot exercise flops then based on it, we can confidently say the EC's will not work. But if fail to participate and the EC comes out to say that everything was successful, how can you then debunk or discredit that?”

“So, I gave the directive that everybody should participate in the pilot exercise to note the errors...and so far, the reports we are receiving confirm what we have been saying all along and we will exhibit evidence to buttress our point”, he indicated.