Biometric register for 2012 elections

Front page, Dec 20, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE current voters register is to be replaced with a biometric (electronic) one which will be used for the 2012 general election.
The process, according to the Electoral Commission (EC), would involve the electronic installation of names, pictures and thumbprints of prospective voters, all estimated to cost GH¢80 million.
This was revealed in the report of the Special Budget Committee of Parliament on the 2011 budget estimates for the EC signed by the Majority Leader, Mr Cletus Avoka, who is also the Chairman of the committee.
The estimated GH¢80 million will have to be dealt with as a separate budget because it is not captured in the 2011 budget, even though the EC submitted it to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP).
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, has given assurance that funds will be made available to the EC for that important national exercise to move from the manual to the biometric collection of electoral data.
For 2011, the EC is seeking to replace the voters register for the 2012 elections, sensitise civil society and the public to the electoral process and continue with its human resource capacity building and infrastructural development to achieve its objectives.
On the district level elections, the report said the committee was informed that about GH¢67 million would be required for the conduct of the elections, out of which GH¢33 million had already been released to the EC.
But the report said the committee was informed that the revision of the electoral areas might reduce the initial budget by about GH¢12 million, leaving an outstanding amount of GH¢22 million.
It added that GH¢19 million out of the outstanding GH¢22 million was currently being processed by the Finance Ministry for release, while Dr Duffuor had assured the committee that the balance of GH¢3 million would be made available.
On office accommodation, the report said the EC was enjoined by Act 451 of the 1992 Constitution to establish its offices in all the regions and districts to ensure that all electoral materials were properly stored and secured.
The committee, in its report to the House on the 2010 budget estimates of the EC, informed the House that most of the EC’s district offices were in rented premises.
The report said even though the commission started work on some regional and district offices, it was unfortunate that its allocation for investments had been on the decline for the past three years.
An amount of GH¢842,259 was allocated for the commission for investment in 2009, GH¢796,000 for 2010 and GH¢398,000 for 2011.
It said the committee expressed worry over the trend and noted that the situation would seriously affect the EC’s programme to provide permanent office accommodation in all the districts.
“The committee reiterates its previous recommendation that MoFEP should provide the EC with the necessary funds to enable it to provide permanent office accommodation in all regions and districts,” it said.
The House approved GH¢25,399,946 for the EC for its activities for 2011.