Biometric verification not a panacea to electoral fraud – Afari-Djan
Dr Kwadwo Afari-Djan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission(EC), on Monday said the biometric verification of the voter register was not a panacea to the electoral fraud in the country but critical vigilance by the people and the Police at polling centres during voting.
He said the EC was not contemplating using a biometric verification adding, people can still steal the ballot boxes since it is only when there is proper behaviour of the people that there will be no need for a machine to check electoral fraud.
Dr Afari-Djan was speaking at a day’s International Conference on Peace and Governance organised by the West African Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra. It was attended by media personnel from Benin, Togo Nigeria and Ghana.
Topics discussed included; Media and Electoral Commission as collaborators for free fair and transparent elections in the sub-region as a means of enduring peace and security in West Africa, Ensuring responsible campaigning and governance, the role of political parties and Security breaches and impact on national security of state.
Dr Afari-Djan said electronic verification has never been done in Nigeria, some form was done in South Africa adding, we go about begging for people to pay for our elections what if the machine breaks down during elections are we going to stop the elections.
“We need to discuss the issues that may arise during the operation of the machine with the political parties.”
Source: GNA