Technological failure dampens Ghana elections
The use of technology was seen as an improvement in Ghana’s widely applauded electoral process, when the Electoral Commission announced the biometric registration of voters for this year’s elections. But as the elections took off today, December 7, 2012, technology seems to be putting a damper on the highly peaceful and smooth election.
The biometric registration was started March 24 and ended April 2, 2012.
The exercise raised the hopes of some, but others were sceptical about it being full proof.
The EC Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said in a meeting with the Editors Forum, Ghana, (EFG) in February 2012, that, the introduction of biometric registration comes with its own problems.
However, he said the biometric registration makes it impossible for some people to vote more than once, though they may have registered.
On the day of the election, “you cannot go and vote at a polling station other than where you have registered,” he said.
But the challenges encountered with the biometric verification equipment during the December 7, 2012 elections even tough anticipated, could not be immediately remedied – most of the machines are malfunctioning and in some cases, the machines are rejecting some registered voters.
Voting was halted for more than four hours at the A&C Polling Centre in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency of the Greater Accra Region, because the verification equipment was not functioning.
A voter who has been in the queue for hours and couldn’t vote as at 4:30pm, Josephine Adom, told ghanabusinessnews.com on the phone that voters were exasperated, because they have been in the queue for long hours and can’t vote because their names could not be verified. “I even want to go home, because they (polling officials) are simply saying to us that it would be fixed, but we are not seeing any progress all this time,” she said.
News monitored on other networks indicates that the malfunction of the biometric equipment is hampering voting in a number of polling centres.
Meanwhile, the EC has issued a statement assuring all voters that, if they stay in the queue after the official closing period of the elections at 5:30pm, they will still be allowed to vote.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi