We didn’t institute ‘liveliness checks’ to verify irregularities

By Prince Ahenkorah

The Electoral Commission of Ghana has affirmed that the absence of liveliness checks to verify irregularities in the 2024 voters register is the cause of irregularities in the register, despite the commission’s efforts in coming up with four different approaches to detecting and correcting errors in the register.

The Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission, Benjamin Bano-Bioh, said on TV3 Key Point on Saturday, September 14, 2024.

The Director of Electoral Services indicated that illegal voter transfer happened in the Pusiga Constituency because there was no liveliness check instituted in the commission’s system used for operations.

He indicated that as of the time of the voter exhibition exercise, the liveliness check that was available was with European specifications and not fit for their system. “As of the time that these issues (illegal voter transfers) occurred, we had not instituted the liveliness feature into the system,” he said.

He further explained that “the last time the NDC came to us (EC), our IT consultant explained to them that when the system was being developed, the liveliness check that was on the market was aligned with European specifications. So even if we (EC) had acquired it, it wouldn’t have helped us. But currently, we have one that has been developed and is suitable for us in this part of the world.”

Benjamin Bano-Bioh indicated that the commission procured the liveliness check when issues of irregularities in voter transfers were raised.

He further reiterated that the commission did not have the liveliness check before the exhibition exercise began, but it was procured before the exercise ended.

The Director of Electoral Services, affirmed that the illegal transfer only occurred in the Pusiga constituency and the commission has reversed all thirty-eight illegal transfers.

In sharp response to the Director of Electoral Services’ claims, the National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, stated that the EC’s Director of Electoral Services has confirmed the tantamount crime and self-incriminatory evidence of the Electoral Commission engaging in gross misconduct, and therefore the need for a forensic audit into the register.

Sammy Gyamfi explained the liveliness check as a system that allows voters to do a transfer only when the person transferring his/her vote is present at the EC’s district office.

He indicated that illegal transfers in Pusiga and other constituencies were due to mischievous returning officers using the pictures of others to illegally transfer them without their knowledge.

“What is this liveliness check going to do, while you have given us a provisional register?” Sammy Gyamfi queried the Director of Electoral Services.

The Communication Officer highlighted the primary role of the exhibition exercise, stating that “Voter exhibition is primarily to give voters the opportunity to check if their particulars on their voter ID cards have been accurately captured in the voter register.” “No voter has the capacity to detect illegal transfers on this scale. We (NDC) have detected it through the voter exhibition exercise,” he highlighted.

He explained the regulations that govern elections, highlighting Regulation 22 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I 127), indicating that “you can only do a transfer when the person transferring his/her vote is physically sitting in front of you in the EC’s district office. You can’t transfer somebody in absentia,” Sammy Gyamfi reiterated.

Regulation 22 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I 127) on the transfer of voters’ lists states that – A registered voter who, before an election, is resident for not less than twelve months in a constituency other than that in which the registered voter is registered, may apply to the returning officer of the constituency where the registered voter is resident for the name of the registered voter to be entered on the transfer voters list of a polling station in the constituency.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress have stated some irregularities in the voter’s register as they indicated that 3,957 voters who were in the 2023 voter’s register have been excluded/deleted from the 2024 provisional voter’s register.

The party again notified that 2,094 voters transferred their votes in 2024, but their details are not contained in the 2024 absent list for their respective polling stations.

Again, the NDC asserted that 243,000 voters who transferred their votes in 2020 have been added to the 2024 transfer list again, thereby making it difficult to ascertain the accurate number of 2024 transfers made to the affected polling stations.

They further indicated that about 15,000 voters have been captured on the EC’s transfer list with no indication as to where they transferred from.

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